Corruption
by Mister Cynical
Summary: Absolute power corrupts absolutely and when the corrupt have all the power, it becomes the average man's duty to oppose them.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter One:

Shinji Ikari jerked awake and looked around his bedroom groggily. The phone on his bedside table continued to ring; unaware that it had already woken him. He checked his watch and frowned. No one had any business calling him at three in the morning. Despite his annoyance he grabbed the cordless handset and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Shinji?" Shinji's thoughts froze in place at the voice, familiar even in its panicked state.

"Misato?"

"I need your help," the older woman stated.

"What's wrong?" Shinji asked immediately. Any thoughts on demanding to know why she was calling were pushed to the side.

"I didn't know how deep this goes," Misato stated. "I can't talk to anyone around here. They own everyone."

"Who owns everyone?" Shinji asked. If Misato heard his question, she didn't bother acknowledging it.

"This is way over my head," she continued. "I didn't expect any of this. I didn't know what they were doing. You have to believe me!"

"Slow down," Shinji replied, trying to keep the woman's infectious panic from spreading to him. "Who owns everyone?"

"Gemüt," Misato answered. Shinji was already on his feet looking for a pair of trousers.

"Hang on Misato," he ordered as calmly as he could. "I'm on my way."

"Thank you." The relief in the woman's voice was almost palpable. A sudden crash filtered across the line and then there was silence.

"Misato? Misato? Hello?" By the last word he was screaming. He heard another crash in the room next to him.

"I'm awake!" his roommate cried. Shinji ignored her and tossed the phone on his bed. He grabbed a pair of khaki slacks and pulled them on. His door slid in while he was searching for his shoes. "What's wrong Shinji?"

"Nothing," Shinji replied tersely. He found an ancient pair of Converses Chuck Taylors and pulled them on. "Don't worry about it." Mana Kirishima sighed in annoyance.

"Well, now I'm worried," she stated. Shinji grabbed a white Polo shirt from his closet and pulled it on. "Shinji." He turned and saw Mana holding his wallet. "Talk or you aren't getting this. What's happening?"

"I don't know," Shinji replied truthfully. "All I know is that an old friend really needs my help." Mana stared at him for a moment and finally handed over his wallet. Shinji shoved it in his pocket.

"And where is this friend in desperate need of help?"

"Tokyo-3," Shinji stated as he picked up his cell phone and stuck it in his other pocket.

"That's four hours away!" Mana exclaimed angrily. "We just got back two hours ago. You've had four hours of sleep in the past two days." Shinji had to laugh.

"I had no idea," he stated. Mana glared up at him. "I'll get some coffee on the way out of town," he added peaceably.

"The only open place will be Mimi's," Mana stated after a moment of silence.

"Leave it to a cop to know where an open diner will be."

"Don't get smart," Mana grumbled. She stared at him for a minute. "You're a nice guy. Sometimes its sweet, sometimes it's a pain in the ass."

"Thanks. I think."

"Call me as soon as you get there," Mana ordered. "Don't make me worry, Shinji. You know how I get when I'm worried."

"I know," Shinji replied. He wrapped her in a hug and kissed her cheek. "I'll call." He didn't want her to worry. He was doing enough of that for both of them.

(:ii:)

Shinji sipped his coffee and stared at the road. He couldn't help but wonder how it had come to this. There had been a point in his life where Misato Katsuragi had been his own personal Christ. She had welcomed him into her home in a way that no one had before in Shinji's life.

So, how had it come to this, a terrified phone call in the middle of the night after years and years of nothing?

Shinji stared at one of the road signs and sipped his coffee again. He was exhausted and he still had another hour's drive. The drive gave him too much time to think, time to think about Misato and the look on her face when he had told her he was leaving. To be fair, at that point she was spending more days and nights at NERV than at home. He had tried to keep in touch, but how could you call someone who was never home? After a few months of trying, he had given up. Misato had never called even once, being too wrapped up in her work. The last time he had called he had left his new cell phone number with her inbox. That had been at least a year ago.

Shinji finished his coffee and set the Styrofoam cup back in its holder. He had told her of his decision to leave on one of the few nights she had made it home for dinner. Asuka had already moved out to her own apartment. Shinji hadn't wanted to wait for the end of dinner, fearing that a cell phone call would have her scurrying back to NERV.

For just a second, Misato had looked crushed. She managed to pull herself together and set about poking fun at him. He had heard her sobbing in her room later that night. It had taken a long look at himself and his surroundings to steel his resolve. A week later he had moved out of both that apartment and the city of Tokyo-3 entirely.

A wild buzzing broke Shinji out of his musing and he snatched up his cell phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Shinji."

"Something wrong, Mana?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah," Mana stated. "I got a call and was heading in to work to check something real quick and I noticed something."

"What?" Shinji asked.

"You know my backup pistol?" Mana asked. Shinji sighed and opened the center console. The tiny SIG-Sauer sat in its white plastic sheath amongst a tangle of white nylon straps.

"Its here."

"That's a relief," Mana replied. "The last time I saw it was when I burrowed your car because mine was in the shop."

"You lost your gun?"

"I was pretty sure I knew where it was," Mana protested. "Besides, that's my pistol. I still have the one the department issued." Shinji closed the center console.

"Christ. You were in the army. Didn't they teach you to never let go of your weapon?"

"I was a psychiatrist!" Mana protested. "How far away are you?"

"About a half hour," Shinji stated. He could see the sky lightening on the horizon.

"Call me when you get there," Mana stated.

"I will," Shinji promised.

"And don't talk on the phone and drive," Mana added. "I'd pull you over for inattentive driving if I was there." Shinji flipped his phone shut and tossed it into the passenger seat. That woman could be simply irritating when she put her mind to it. Probably had something to do with knowing exactly how the human mind worked. Psychiatrists could be the biggest pains in the ass the world had even known when they wanted to be.

(:ii:)

Shinji checked his watch and knocked on the door. It really wasn't too early. The door opened and a disgruntled old man stared up at him. "Can I help you?"

"Are you the landlord?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah."

"I was wondering if you could help me get into an apartment," Shinji stated. The man eyed him suspiciously. "I lived here years ago with a friend and I wanted to check up on her, but no one was answering the door."

"I thought you looked familiar," the man stated. "I never forget a face, especially a famous one!"

"Yeah," Shinji replied, pushing his advantage. "I was one of the Eva pilots."

"It was you and the redhead," the man stated. Shinji's smile faltered. His last few days with his Germanic roommate were not among his favorite memories of his time in Tokyo-3.

"Could you open my friend's door?" Shinji asked.

"Anything for one of the guys who saved my life!" the man stated cheerfully as he grabbed a keycard and led the way towards the elevator. "It's been years since you left!"

"I guess," Shinji replied.

"Things got really quiet after you and that redhead moved out," the man continued as he pushed the call button. The doors slid open right away and they stepped into the elevator. "Those NERV guys used to pay a whole lot to stop everyone from complaining."

"That's NERV for you," Shinji replied absently. "Why not bribe all your problems away if you have the money?"

"They gave me a good cut too," the man added happily. "Kind of sad to see you all go." The doors opened and they started down the familiar hallway. Déjà vu smacked Shinji over the head like a cast iron skillet. The landlord pushed his keycard into Misato's door and pulled it out. He tried the knob and pushed. The door didn't budge. "What the hell?"

"The deadbolt?" Shinji ventured.

"The door would give a little if it was just the deadbolt," the man stated. "Something's holding the door closed."

"Mind if I try?" The man stepped back and Shinji put his shoulder to the door. It burst open and Shinji stumbled inside. The landlord followed after him.

"Holy cow!" Shinji looked around and had to agree.

"Holy shit." Misato had always been a messy person, but this was ridiculous.

"I'm afraid to walk in here in my slippers," the man stated. "See you later." Shinji nodded, glancing at the broken glass littering the floor. He looked around the room and his stomach twisted into a knot. Something had gone very wrong here. He turned and stared at the door. A length of wire had been stretched from the door to the wall. It had unwound when Shinji had knocked the door open.

"Weird." Shinji took a deep breath, frowning as the old familiar scent of cordite burned his nostrils, and took in the apartment slowly, trying to spot every detail. The floor lamp was bent like something heavy had been thrown against it. The faux wood door frame had been twisted like the door had been kicked in. This all added up to Shinji deciding that it was definitely a good time to call the cops.

(:ii:)

"And that's your story?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied. The old policeman stared down at the report and frowned. "I don't think we have anything to base a case off of."

"What about the broken in door?" Shinji protested.

"Bad part of town," the cop stated with a shrug. "This place has really gone to hell over the last few years."

"So you're admitting that the door was kicked in and you're not even going to investigate?" Shinji demanded.

"The department is really busy right now," the officer stated. "She'll also need to be missing for more than twenty-four hours before we can file a missing person report."

"I see," Shinji stated. He stood and forced a smile. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow." He had his cell phone out and Mana's number dialed before he had made it to the door.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's me."

"What's up Shinji?" Mana asked. "I can't help but notice that you should have been in Tokyo-3 for a few hours and I never got a call."

"Been busy," Shinji replied. "Hey, how often is the department too busy to investigate a possible kidnapping?"

"Been having trouble with cops already?" Mana asked with a sigh. "What am I going to do with you, Shinji? I don't have any friends on the force down there to bail you out if you get into trouble."

"Tell me what I need to know," Shinji stated.

"It happens," Mana stated. "Although, it's really not that common. I heard that Tokyo-3 has really gone to the dogs. Maybe they're just really busy."

"Maybe. I'll call you later."

"How long are you going to be there" Mana asked.

"As long as it takes for me to find her."

"Alright." Shinji flipped his phone shut and was about to tuck it into his pocket when the first blow hit him. A pair of knuckles to the side of his head sent him sprawling. Before he could recover his assailant began raining blows on his sides. Years of martial arts training kicked in and Shinji curled into his ball, protecting his face and throat as much as possible.

As suddenly as it had begun, the attack was over. Shinji rolled away from his attacker. He was hurting just about everywhere. He stared up at the man, preparing himself to handle this situation. "Forget about that bitch Katsuragi," the man stated. "Get out of town." He straightened his black suit and walked away. Shinji rose shakily to his feet, considering whether or not he could chase down the man. In the end he tasted copper and decided to climb into his car. Something was definitely not how it should be in his body. Experience told him that it was his ribs again. Taking beatings was getting harder the older he got.

"Well, at least that proves something is going down," he groaned, clutching his side. "I really hope the hospital hasn't moved."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. You know, I've gotten a few reviews and personal messages about how I should do a revenge story. Well, here you go. I just know that I'm going to pay for starting yet another story At least I have a few chapters of this one squirreled away. This is a lot more my style than the Legionnaire. It's kind of funny. I do serious military stories and whimsical gorefests. Is that an off combo, or is it just me.

And now for this month's bitch session. I don't get teenagers, which is kind of odd considering that I'm actually not that far off in age from them. They dress different and say it's because they want to be individuals, yet there are hundreds of thousands of people who look exactly like them. Then there's the fact that they know they look weird, but they get pissed off when you point it out. If you know people are going to laugh at you and you get pissed when they do, you're an idiot. So, like I said, I don't get teenagers these days. Maybe it's just me.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Two:

"You have three fractured ribs." Shinji frowned as he stared at the X-rays pinned to their lighted backing. "How did this happen?"

"Nasty trip," Shinji stated. Misato had said that they owned everyone. Was there anyone he could trust?

"I see," the doctor replied, eyeing the bruises already beginning to show on Shinji's arms. He looked like he had been mugged and he knew it. "Well, keep those bandages. . ."

"I know how to deal with busted ribs," Shinji interrupted politely. Someone knocked at the door and the doctor glanced at Shinji. Shinji shrugged and pulled on his shirt over the bandages wrapped around his torso, hissing in pain as his ribs flared in sudden agony. The doctor opened the door and frowned. "Doctor Suzuhara?" Shinji jerked around at the name and gasped involuntarily at the pain that shot through him.

"Hello Chuck," the dark-haired woman replied. "How's your patient?"

"He'll heal," Shinji's doctor replied. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

"No," the woman replied. "I just saw your patient's name and was hoping to have a word with him." The doctor glanced back at Shinji questioningly.

"Sure."

"Well, alright," the doctor replied. "I've done all I can. You're free to go."

"Thanks." Shinji climbed to his feet and followed the dark-haired woman into the hallway outside. "Mari?" The woman laughed loudly.

"Please Ikari," she stated. "I know I don't look that young."

"Hikari. . .Horaki?" Shinji ventured.

"Suzuhara now," Hikari replied. Shinji stared at her in shock.

"I wasn't kidding," he stated. "You look amazing." It was really an understatement. She looked radiant.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Hikari commented. "It's been a while. You left right after graduation."

"Yeah," Shinji replied. He glanced back at her as they walked down the hall. A big gold ring with a big clear diamond sat on her ring finger. "What about you? Finally married Touji, eh?"

"A few years ago," Hikari replied. "We tried to find you, but no one had your phone number and no one knew where you were."

"You should have asked Misato or Kensuke," Shinji replied. He glanced around the hospital. He and Hikari had never been too close, but he would certainly consider her a friend. If he couldn't trust an old friend, than who could he trust?

"Well, General Katsuragi hasn't really been seen in years and Kensuke was out of the country chasing some story," Hikari rambled. "Touji was a bit hard up for best men."

"Something's happened to her," Shinji cut in.

"To General Katsuragi?" Hikari asked, her story coming to an abrupt end. Shinji frowned as he noticed something in her voice. He couldn't quite identify it, but he took note of it for later.

"Someone broke into her apartment," he continued. "I went to the police and someone attacked me right after. He told me to forget about Misato and leave town." Hikari took a deep breath.

"Tokyo-3 has changed," she stated. "You really should leave, Shinji." Shinji considered the woman out of the corner of his eye.

"You're part of Gemüt." Hikari turned on him sharply and Shinji turned to match her shocked gaze.

"How do you know that name?" she demanded shrilly. Shinji ignored her and started for the door. He had already taken care of his co-pay. 'So much for an old friend,' he thought absently as he stepped out into the darkening streets of Tokyo-3, only the streets weren't darkening. They almost seemed to be more brightly lit as the sun shrank. "Shinji!" Shinji turned and stared at Hikari as she followed him out the doors.

"Yes?"

"You have to forget about Misato," Hikari stated, looking around the streets nervously. "You don't know what kind of people you're dealing with."

"Your kind?" Shinji ventured.

"I'm not a part of Gemüt," Hikari stated. "But I know what kind of people they are. If you keep looking for her, they will kill you."

"They can try," Shinji said with a bravado he wasn't sure he could back up anymore. "I'm not the person I used to be and I owe Misato more than I could ever pay back. This will be a start."

(:ii:)

Shinji frowned and looked around the inside of the parking garage. Ever since he had left the hospital, he had been sure that someone was following him. He turned back to the trunk of his car and reached into his old duffel bag. His hand closed around the familiar handle of his old Gerber Guardian Backup. He had worn the knife religiously for years because of the very real fear of being caught unarmed. Now he only kept it as a testament to his unshakable paranoia. He quickly stuck the tiny knife's sheath in his waistband and made sure it was clipped to his pants before pulling his polo down over it. The familiar feel of it pressing into the small of his back did wonders to soothe his nerves. He slammed the trunk and walked towards the bank of doors leading into the building from the street.

Really, there was only one person in Tokyo-3 that Shinji had managed to keep contact with for any real amount of time. Of course, their communications had dwindled off some time ago and at their peak had only really been cordial calls. Kensuke Aida had worked his way up from a field writer to an editor of the Tokyo-3 Times. They had managed to keep something of a friendship despite the distance between them.

Shinji pushed the door to the news building open and made his way over to the bank of elevators. He punched the call button and took in his surroundings carefully. A man in a suit was loitering by the front desk. The elevator doors opened and Shinji stepped in quickly, pushing the close door button without ever really turning his back to the suited man. The doors slid shut and Shinji punched the button for the top floor. As the elevator began to ascend his cell phone buzzed wildly and Shinji dug it out.

"Hello?"

"Evening," Mana returned. "Have you spotted any sign of your friend?"

"Not yet," Shinji stated.

"You're sure she's missing?" Mana asked. Shinji absently rubbed his injured side.

"Pretty sure," he replied.

"You should go to the police tomorrow," Mana stated. "They'll have to act if the person's been missing for twenty-four hours."

"Yeah." The police station was not very high on Shinji's list of places to go again.

"You'll call me if you get into trouble, right?" Shinji hesitated for only a moment.

"Of course," he replied. For a moment he wondered if Mana was going to mention his pause, but in the end she decided to pretend she hadn't noticed it and Shinji was grateful. It was hard to hide things from people who could practically read one's mind.

"Alright. Do you know where you're going to spend the night?" Shinji frowned as he considered that. He hadn't given it a thought really. Than he thought back to the numerous cheap motels he had noticed around the city.

"I'll find a place to stay," he replied. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Do you know what you forgot?" Shinji sighed. He hated the way she sometimes answered questions with questions. Mana apparently picked up on his annoyance. "Your pills."

"Damn it," Shinji frowned. How could he have forgotten those pills? "Well," he began as cheerfully as he could, "we were talking about maybe seeing what I'm like without them."

"We were," Mana agreed, "in controlled conditions. You know, ones where you might not be dealing with a kidnapping."

"Do you have any friends in Tokyo-3 who could get me them?"

"No," Mana stated. "I'll see what I can swing."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Shinji asked cheerfully.

"I think you know," she stated. The bell sounded and the doors slid open.

"I have to go now."

"Call me tomorrow."

"Promise," Shinji replied out of habit. He closed his phone and stepped out onto the top floor of the Tokyo-3 Times building. He glanced at the directory on the wall and gaped. "Well someone's been doing well for himself."

(:ii:)

"I'm here to see Kensuke Aida."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No," Shinji replied honestly. "Tell him it's Shinji Ikari. I'm an old friend." Kensuke's secretary stared at him suspiciously for a moment before finally reaching for the intercom on her desk.

"Mister Aida?"

"What is it?" a voice asked absently

"There's a Mister Ikari here to see you," Kensuke's secretary stated. "He says that he's an old friend of yours." There was a short pause before he responded.

"Well, send him in!"

"Of course." Shinji smiled at the secretary as the electronic lock on the door buzzed. He turned the doorknob and stepped into the spacious room beyond. The man sitting at the desk stared at him for a moment before climbing to his feet and walking briskly around his desk.

"God damn," he stated. "It really is you."

"Yeah," Shinji returned with a bright grin. "Look at you, Mister Chief Editor."

"I did well for myself," Kensuke replied as he shook Shinji's hand. "God. It's been years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied. Kensuke moved back around his desk and hunched down a little. He came up a moment later with two cans of beer.

"Here."

"I don't drink alcohol," Shinji replied honestly.

"You used to," Kensuke commented as he opened his beer and took a sip. "Of course that wasn't so much drinking, as inhaling."

"I used to do a lot of things I don't do anymore," Shinji replied. Kensuke shrugged and dug a can of some kind of soda out.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"This and that," Shinji answered as he popped his soda's tab and took a sip. It was cold and felt great in his parched throat.

"Cool. What happened to your hand?" Shinji frowned and glanced down at his left hand. Half of his smallest finger was gone, as was the tip of his ring finger.

"It was a grenade," Shinji replied truthfully. "You're the first person who's ever noticed that."

"Why were you playing with grenades?" Kensuke asked. Shinji cocked an eyebrow and the smaller man shrugged. "I may be the chief editor now, but I'm still a reporter at heart."

"I was in the army," Shinji stated. "I was just an engineer!" he added quickly when he saw Kensuke's eyes widen.

"That's still pretty cool," Kensuke replied. "I tried to enlist, but I have flat feet and they turned me down. Is that what happened to your face, too?" Shinji unconsciously reached up and ran a finger down the most visible of the scars on his face. Most of them were tiny puncture wounds that were barely visible, but the big one was a long scar that started just below his corner right eye and ran down to his jaw.

"This was something else," he replied vaguely. Kensuke nodded and sipped his beer again.

"So, what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to college now, a music education major."

"No kidding?" Kensuke asked as he sat down and pointed towards the seat in front of his desk. "So, what brings you around?"

"Misato Katsuragi," Shinji stated, taking the offered seat. He watched interestedly as Kensuke jerked up in surprise.

"Has something happened to her?" he asked.

"Depends on who you ask," Shinji replied flatly. "The cops don't seem to think so. I, however, feel quite justifiably different."

"What do you think happened?"

"I think Misato was digging into something and she caught the wrong kind of attention," Shinji stated. "Well, Mister Chief Editor, what do you know about Gemüt?" Kensuke took a long sip of his beer.

"It's kind of a public secret around here, Shinji," he stated after a moment. "You left before it all went down."

"Before what went down?"

"NERV is gone," Kensuke stated. "There was an information leak and Commander Ikari was implemented in a lot of really bad things. The UN tried to keep it quiet, so it's no surprise that you didn't hear about it. Only those with direct ties to NERV at the time knew about it. Gemüt is NERV's successor."

"I always knew something wasn't quite right at NERV," Shinji commented.

"Yeah," Kensuke agreed. "I'm not sure exactly what Ikari was planning, but it must have been really bad. The UN must have been really embarrassed to have been the ones who put that man in charge, or there wouldn't have been such a drastic cover up of his activities." Shinji nodded and sipped his drink thoughtfully. "You should go to the police again. Tokyo-3's really gone down hill and they're probably just really busy."

"I spoke with someone who seemed to have something of a problem with Gemüt," Shinji commented. Hikari certainly hadn't made Gemüt sound like just some new organization.

"It's a big secret government agency," Kensuke replied with a shrug. "Everybody hates those." Shinji nodded again. "Who were you talking to?"

"Doesn't matter," Shinji replied. "We still seem to have a real problem here. Misato is still gone."

"Are you sure she's gone?" Kensuke asked.

"Positive," Shinji replied. Kensuke leaned back in his seat.

"You should let the cops handle it," he stated.

"I barely trust the cops to handle a couple of kids drag racing where I'm from and my roommate is a cop," Shinji stated. Kensuke nodded his understanding.

"There's only one thing to do."

"And that is?" Shinji asked, wondering what the answer was going to be.

"I'm going to call Misato's boss," Kensuke stated. He must have seen Shinji's look of surprise. "She works for Gemüt, Shinji. I'm sure the CO would like to know why her OPS officer isn't coming to work."

"Her?" Shinji ventured.

"Old man Fuyutsuki had a heart attack a few years ago," Kensuke stated. "Misato wasn't politically inclined to take the top slot, so an old friend of yours did."

"Who?" Shinji asked.

"Asuka Sohryu." Kensuke reveled in Shinji's surprised expression. "And check that filing cabinet. There're some clothes in there. You look like you've been in a fight." Shinji glanced down at his dirtied white shirt.

"More an ambush," he stated as he walked over to the cabinet.

"What?" Kensuke asked, the phone frozen halfway between the desk and his ear.

"Don't worry," Shinji replied as he pulled out a gray silk long sleeved shirt and a black undershirt, both of which looked like they'd barely fit his larger frame. "He won't try it again if he knows what's good for him."

(:ii:)

Shinji looked around the massive underground parking lot and whistled. A lot of places seemed smaller when you were young. The old Geo-Front somehow looked even bigger. "Mister Ikari?" Shinji turned, tensing automatically. The person who had called his name was a young blond woman in, what looked to him, to be a NERV uniform.

"Yes?" The woman smiled brightly at him and Shinji tugged at his cuffed sleeves somewhat self-conscious of the scars on his exposed forearms.

"I'm Jenny. Commander Sohryu sent me to bring you to her office. So, if you'll just follow me."

"Thank you." Shinji followed after the bubbly blond and noted that she was probably half his age and a captain.

"So, what'd you do to Commander Sohryu?" Jenny asked as she led him through a large pair of automatic doors and towards a familiar pair of giant escalators.

"Pardon?"

"I haven't seen her so worked up in a long time," Jenny replied cheerfully.

"You work with her often?" Shinji asked.

"I'm her personal assistant," Jenny stated. "I'm pretty sure that she would have come to get you herself, but she's buried in all the paper work she couldn't manage to pass off on me."

"I thought there weren't any more Angels," Shinji commented.

"Angels?" Jenny asked. "You are old. Gemüt is dedicated to the research of poly-theological. . .something. . .something else. Anyway, this isn't NERV."

"I see," Shinji replied. "I'm not that old."

"I'm twenty-two," Jenny stated. Shinji scratched his jaw absently and frowned in distaste as his fingers ran over rough hair. He suddenly felt old. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"How old are you?" Jenny pressed.

"Not that old," Shinji countered, wishing that the next floor would hurry up. He was starting to understand why Mana got grumpy every time her birthday came around. Maybe this was a sign that he should stop teasing her by making it into such a big deal. Jenny pouted and turned back around to stare at the ground.

"There she is!" Shinji looked closer at the people that had been milling around the bottom of the elevator. They were certainly moving quicker all of the sudden, almost as if their boss had suddenly appeared. That was when he spotted a shock of bright red hair storming up the escalator towards them. His old roommate crashed to a halt a few feet in front of them.

"Uh, hi Asuka."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Yeah. Cliff hangers are fun. Well, fun for one at least. Oh and you guys are in real trouble now. One of my friends showed me how to use the stats on my author's page. I couldn't help but noticed that a lot of people favorited my stories and didn't leave reviews.

Now don't get me wrong. I do this for fun and I'd do it even if I got all bad reviews, though if that the case I'd update mostly because I enjoy causing pain and suffering. However, I force myself to keep up with my own update schedule because of the readers out there who take the time to let me know what they think. So, how about it? Drop me a line and tell me what you think. Oh, and the 'this story rocks' reviews are cool, but come on! Pick on my flaws, point out my mistakes. Tell me what I need to do better. You can't hurt my feelings, I don't have any. Ask my last ex and the one before that and the one before that.

Oh and Happy New Year. I spent mine alone with a six pack of Budweiser, half a bottle of Jack Daniels, and a bag of M-80s. Best start to a new year ever. Even beat out the awkward, drunken, sex last year. Especially knowing that I wasn't going to wake up this year and feel like taking a long shower until I felt clean again. Almost lost a finger this year though and my eyes brows are a bit smaller than they were. Good times.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Three:

"You're looking well," Shinji replied somewhat awkwardly. That was certainly something of an understatement. Asuka's beauty had only matured in their time apart. The friendly smile that curved her gorgeous lips didn't hurt either.

"Casanova you're not," Jenny commented as she laughed at him. Shinji scowled at her as he felt his face heat up.

"It really is you," Asuka stated, her bright blue eyes roving over him. "I wasn't sure at first, but the blush confirms it!"

"Very funny," Shinji replied slightly crossly. Asuka grinned at him and grabbed him in a tight hug. Shinji froze. With the way they had separated last time, a hug wasn't the first thing he had been expecting. Asuka released him after a moment as they stepped off the elevator.

"God, it's great seeing you again Shinji."

"Uh. . .you too," Shinji replied. Maybe she still had that selective memory thing. Back when they lived together she certainly had seemed to forget just how poorly she stacked up against him as a practical Eva pilot. "I can't really say that I was expecting such a warm greeting. I kind of thought this would degenerate into fisticuffs."

"I'd like to think that we've both matured since the last time we were together," Asuka replied with a friendly smile. "Besides, beating you up is like shooting fish in a barrel."

"I seem to recall things going differently the last time we were together," Shinji commented. Asuka rubbed her jaw thoughtfully and nodded.

"You fractured my jaw."

"Sorry."

"I had it coming," Asuka stated. "I started that fight." She laughed suddenly. "I can't believe you actually hit hard enough to fracture my jaw!"

"I learned some stuff before I came to Tokyo-3," Shinji stated as he forced his lips to twist into an approximation of a smile. There was just something that was bothering him. He didn't like something about all this, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"You never mentioned a boyfriend named Shinji, boss," Jenny commented cheerfully. "You should definitely hook up with him again. He's way better than all those tossers you date now." Shinji turned away to hide his smile as Asuka's face turned almost exactly the same color as her hair. "Oh look at the time! Papers need doing and your signature needs forging!" With that Jenny quickly sped off down one of the nearest hallways.

"Give them an inch, they take a mile," Asuka growled, her fist clenched in righteous fury. She took a breath and her look of indignation disappeared. She turned back to Shinji. "Kensuke tells me that something happened to Katsuragi." Shinji's mind took note of the redhead's choice of Misato's surname.

"Yeah," he replied thoughtfully. Asuka looked around and frowned.

"Follow me. We'll continue this talk in my office."

(:ii:)

"I don't recognize any of this," Shinji stated as he eyed the featureless taupe walls. Asuka laughed.

"We did some remodeling," she stated. "I personally hate this color, but the psychiatrists say that it's soothing. Don't get lost now. Do you want me to hold your hand?" Shinji's eyebrow rose. Was she flirting with him? Definitely not what he had been expecting after their last little spat had gone nuclear.

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Shinji stated. Asuka shot him a cheeky grin over her shoulder and stopped in front of a pair of large wooden doors. She pushed one open and Shinji followed her into the eerily familiar dark room beyond. Then the lights flipped on.

"Have a seat," Asuka offered as she shucked off her uniform jacket and tossed it haphazardly onto a coat rack in one corner of the massive office. Shinji sat down and watched as Asuka dragged her chair around the massive desk to join him. "Tell me what you know."

"I got a call from Misato begging me for help," Shinji replied. "She said that someone was coming for her and she asked my help."

"Did she say who was coming for her?" Asuka asked. Why? Why couldn't Shinji tell her the whole story? There was something tiny in the back of his head, screaming to be heard. It demanded that he not trust her. It didn't like this whole set up.

"No."

"I see," Asuka replied. "Have you been to the police yet?"

"They said that it hadn't been twenty-four hours," Shinji replied. Asuka nodded and pushed a button on her desk.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken!" a cheerful voice cried. "Can I take your order?" Asuka pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"Get a hold of Suzuhara and send him down to my office, Jenny," she ordered.

"Right away, boss!" She turned back to Shinji and opened her mouth to speak, but Shinji's stomach beat her to it.

"I guess I'm a little hungry," he stated sheepishly as he patted his rumbling abdomen.

"I guess so," Asuka returned. "I must say, you don't exactly look like you've been sleeping well either."

"I haven't really had the time I guess," Shinji replied. How long had it been since his quick breakfast at Mimi's? It must have been almost fourteen hours ago by now. "I'm fine. I know how to handle a little food and sleep deprivation."

"You might be able to handle it, but it looks like your body might not be able to," Asuka commented.

"It always has before," Shinji replied.

"Right." Asuka punched the button on her intercom again.

"What's up boss?"

"Have a room prepared for Mister Ikari at the officer's dormitories," Asuka ordered.

"Why doesn't he just stay with you?" Jenny asked innocently.

"What. . ."

"You do have an extra room right?" Asuka's face was turning red again.

"Just do it!" she snapped. She glanced up at Shinji and shrugged. "Good help is hard to find nowadays. You're in luck if you just get stuck with a smartass."

(:ii:)

Asuka watched as Jenny led Shinji out of her office and off towards the Geo-Front's dormitories. A few minutes after they had departed someone knocked on her door and pushed it open before she could respond. "Good evening, Red," the dark clad man offered.

"Evening," Asuka returned as she dragged her chair back behind her desk. "Shinji Ikari is back."

"I know," Touji Suzuhara replied. Asuka snorted. The dark-haired man had really taken to the whole Section-2 attitude in the years he had been working for them.

"He's looking for Katsuragi."

"I know that too," Touji stated. "I passed him in the hallway. There's something about him that has me nervous."

"Do tell," Asuka stated. Touji didn't get nervous about just anything.

"He's a soldier," Touji stated. Asuka frowned.

"Really?" She considered that. Shinji's hair was short, but hardly military and he definitely wasn't clean shaven, but the scars that crisscrossed his arms and that big scar on his face. . . "I don't think he does."

"He doesn't look like it," Touji agreed, "at least, not like a regular soldier."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Asuka asked.

"Nothing for now," Touji replied. "I'm having my men look into it."

"What about Katsuragi?" Asuka asked.

"My men are taking care of it right now."

(:ii:)

Shinji jerked awake and looked around his surroundings wildly. The room he was in was empty and he took a deep breath. Something had woken him. "Mister Ikari!" Shinji looked up at the door. He climbed off the bed and pulled on his black T-shirt before pulling the door open to find Jenny standing on the other side. "Are you deaf or something? I've been shouting for five minutes."

"I am deaf," Shinji stated, "at least partially." Jenny's jaw closed with a click.

"Oh. I guess you really are old."

"I'm not old," Shinji growled. "I perforated both my eardrums a couple times." He hated explaining this. He only had trouble when people started talking when he wasn't paying attention. Despite that, people only ever seemed to hear deaf and spent the rest of their conversation yelling at him.

"How'd you do that?" Jenny asked, her voice rising in volume despite the fact that they had previously held conversations at a more normal level. "One of my exes popped his eardrums when he went diving."

"It was a concussive blast."

"What?" Jenny asked.

"Big boom in a little space," Shinji stated as he checked his watch. He almost missed the date, but once his eyes roved over it, they stuck fast. "How long have I been out?"

"More than twenty four hours," Jenny stated. "When was the last time you slept?"

"I had finals," Shinji replied.

"You look kind of old to be a student," Jenny stated. Shinji's jaw dropped to argue, but she cut him off. "The boss just sent me to wake you up. Do you think you can find your way to the cafeteria?"

"Absolutely not," Shinji stated flatly. Jenny sighed.

"You're as bad as she is!"

"Who?"

"Colonel Katsuragi," Jenny stated. She glanced at her watch and frowned. "I'll come back in ten minutes. Can you be showered by then?"

"No problem."

"See you then." Shinji nodded and grabbed his cell phone from the bedside table. He frowned as he vaguely recalled fielding a call from Mana while half awake.

"Oh shit." God only knew what she had gotten him to agree to this time. Shinji sighed and stretched a little, groaning as his ribs told him that was a bad idea. He frowned as he looked around the room. Everything seemed so much brighter, so much more. . .intense than it had been. He closed his eyes and noted the lingering scent of Jenny's perfume. He hadn't even noticed it when he had been in her presence last night, or rather the night before last. "Odd."

(:ii:)

Asuka glanced up as her office door burst open and Jenny led Shinji in. "Feeling better?"

"Lots," Shinji replied. "Thanks." He definitely looked better. The bags under his eyes were gone and he had even managed to shave. She remembered Touji's words and took in his appearance more carefully. He was definitely in good shape, but he still didn't look like a soldier to her. Her eyes made their way back to his face and she stared at the scar just under his eye. "I can't believe I was out that long."

"Not been sleeping lately?" Asuka asked.

"I had finals," Shinji replied. "I'm half-way through a bachelor's degree in musical education."

"You're going to be a teacher?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah." Asuka had to laugh.

"I never really saw you doing something so. . .normal," she stated. "I know it's weird, but with how good you were, I expected you to stay at NERV or go into the military or something."

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "What are you guys doing about Misato?"

"I turned it over to my head of Section-2," Asuka stated. "He's a good guy, Shinji, a real pro."

"I'd like to help out any way I can," Shinji added.

"Leave it to Section-2," Asuka stated. "They aren't just the Secret Service look-a-likes they used to be. They're actually pretty good."

"At what?" Shinji asked.

"Uh. . .pretty much everything I tell them to do," Asuka stated. Someone knocked and the door opened.

"Red," Touji stated.

"Ah," Asuka replied. "Here's my head of Section-2 now." She grinned as Shinji stared at the man.

"You mentioned Suzuhara last night. . ."

"Night before last," Asuka corrected.

"I must have been out of it to not notice it," Shinji stated. "Damn. I was tired. That's embarrassing."

"Soldiers are trained better, aren't they?" Touji asked.

"They are," Shinji agreed non-committally. "I ran into Hikari at the hospital and she told me the good news."

"What were you doing at the hospital?" Asuka asked.

"Someone tried to mug me," Shinji replied. "Don't worry about it."

"May I speak with you alone, ma'am?" Touji asked coolly.

"Excuse me," Shinji replied as he rose to his feet and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

"Why was he at the hospital?" Asuka demanded.

"I received a report about someone snooping around for the Colonel," Touji stated. "I sent an agent to encourage him to leave."

"You sent someone to beat up Shinji?" Asuka demanded.

"Didn't know it was him; besides, we have bigger problems," Touji stated. "He was warned, but he played it off as a mugging. He doesn't trust us."

"Why wouldn't he trust us?" Asuka asked.

"We don't know what the Colonel told him," Touji stated. Asuka considered that for a few minutes.

"What did the analysts turn up on him?" she asked.

"He was a combat engineer in the JGSSDF," Touji stated. "No official combat history, but several awards for combat heroism."

"What does that mean?" Asuka asked.

"Special operations probably," Touji stated. "We're looking into it. He was given a medical discharge five years ago for permanent damage to his hearing caused by a concussive blast of unknown cause."

"He's deaf?" Asuka asked.

"Partially," Touji stated. "He wasn't discharged because of his hearing, no matter what his papers say. You don't spend two years in a psychiatric ward for loosing some of your hearing." Asuka stared at the man in shock. "We have to assume the worst. Shinji Ikari is a very dangerous man."

"Come on Suzuhara!" Asuka exclaimed. "He may be bigger, but he's still Shinji!"

"Never underestimate the quiet introverts," Touji stated. "It may just be the last thing you ever do."

(:ii:)

Shinji looked around the hallway and took in every little detail. "It must be my pills," he decided. He had been taking them for so long that he had forgotten how much they dulled his senses. 'And I feel great! Mana had nothing to worry about.'

"Excuse me," Shinji nodded to the woman and stepped aside to let her into Asuka's office. She reached for the doorknob and froze before slowly turning to stare at him. "Shinji. . .Ikari?" she asked. Shinji smiled as he recognized the technician who had always sat in on his synch tests. He had always been good with faces.

"Hello Miss. . .uh. . ." He had never been good with names.

"Maya Ibuki," the woman stated as she shook his hand. "My god, you look fantastic!"

"Thanks," Shinji replied. "You look great yourself."

"How many years has it been?"

"A lot," Shinji replied. "How have you been?"

"Excellent," Maya stated. "I'm the head of Gemüt's science division, which makes me the second in command."

"Good for you," Shinji stated. "I would have thought that Doctor Akagi would have taken that position, though." Maya's smile slipped a little.

"Doctor Akagi committed suicide soon after Commander Ikari was exposed," she stated. Shinji winced. Mana was always telling him that he had a talent for sticking his foot in his mouth. He hadn't believed it before now.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Maya stated, brightening again. "Are you staying long?"

"Long enough," Shinji replied. "You want to go out some time and catch up?" The second in command could be a good source of information.

"Sure," Maya replied. "I have to go make a report to Asuka right now." She pulled out a notepad and scribbled something down before handing it to him. "Give me a call when you have a free moment."

"Won't be a problem for me," Shinji stated pointedly.

"I can always get free time," Maya stated cheerfully. "Talk to you later." Shinji nodded and she walked into the office. Touji slipped out as soon as she was inside.

"Hello Touji."

"Shinji," Touji greeted coolly. "Don't worry about Katsuragi. I have my best agents on it."

"I'd still prefer to help," Shinji stated.

"You have no authority," Touji stated. "You'd only be a liability. Trust me on this."

"As far as I could throw you," Shinji replied. He balled his hands into fists. "Maybe I should rephrase that, I could probably throw you pretty far." Touji eyed him warily for a moment before nodding and making his way down the hallway.

(:ii:)

"Thanks for the report, Maya," Asuka stated as she mulled over these new revelations. "Could you send Shinji in?"

"No problem," the doctor stated as she pushed the door open. She paused and said something to Shinji that Asuka couldn't quite hear. He laughed and walked back into the office.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry," Shinji replied as he sat in the chair across from her.

"So," Asuka began, "I never even got to ask you what you've been up to all these years."

"This and that," Shinji replied.

"Suzuhara says you look like a soldier," Asuka commented offhandedly.

"I spent a few years in," Shinji stated. "I didn't really go anywhere though."

"I see," Asuka replied. So, he had just gotten those medals and scars for doing nothing? Fat chance. "I've got an idea. There's a big formal ball here tonight. Why don't you come and get your mind off your troubles for an evening. We can sit around and reminisce about the past."

"The past?" Shinji asked. "I think you're remembering a different past. The last time we met was when you moved out of Misato's apartment. We got in a fight and I broke your jaw."

"You broke my heart," Asuka corrected. "I thought you were finally going to act like a man and than a month later Doctor Akagi told me you had left for good. I cried for weeks." Shinji stared at the redhead in shock. "You're the only guy I've ever cried over."

"I'm. . ."

"Say you're sorry and I'll break _your_ jaw," Asuka interrupted. Shinji's jaw closed with an audible click. "Don't worry about it. That was just a stupid crush, I'm over it." The silence seemed to hang over them like a fog.

"Why would you have a ball with your operation's officer missing?" Shinji asked finally. "Kind of seems like an inopportune time."

"I can't afford to show weakness," Asuka stated. "There are a lot of people who would happily swoop in and oust me if I did. What do you say, be my date?" Shinji thought about that silently for a minute.

"I have nothing to wear." Asuka grinned.

"I know a great place you can get a tux at before this evening," she stated. "Just tell her you need it for my ball."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem."

(:ii:)

Shinji frowned as he made his way through the halls of the Geo-Front. The little voice in the back of his head, much louder than before, was going ballistic. It didn't like this and neither did Shinji. 'I definitely need to get Mana's gun.' The voice in the back of his head liked that. Shinji paused and looked around. Where the hell was he? "Oh, for God's sake! I was in the SOG! How can I be lost?"

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Damn. I ask for reviews and you guys do it. Thanks. I've got my moto back. Than I think about this weekend. It's medical stand down time. That means shots. Lots of shots. Damn it.

Oh, and it's my brother's eighteenth. I took him to a strip club and got him a lap dance from a real pretty little thing. I ended up chatting away with an off duty girl and she asked me what kind of girl I was looking for. I thought about it and told her the truth. I want a sweet girl with a mean streak who can drink more than me, smoke more than me, and hit harder than me. She got a real kick out of that.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Four:

Shinji sighed in relief as he spotted his car. "Thanks."

"No problem," Shinji's guide replied. "I remember when I was new here."

"I don't work here," Shinji stated. "I'm just visiting."

"Oh. Have a good one, sir." Shinji watched the other man walk away and made his way to his car. He opened the driver side door and climbed in, frowning as his ribs once again made themselves known. His phone buzzed and he tugged it out of his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey Shinji," Mana stated.

"Afternoon," Shinji returned as he closed the door and opened the center console. "What did we talk about last time?"

"You agreed to take me out to that restaurant I like when you get back," Mana stated happily.

"The really expensive one?" Shinji asked as he pulled out the woman's SIG-Sauer and ejected the clip.

"Yup." Shinji sighed. It was worth maintaining the peace he supposed. He frowned as he stared at the fat .40-caliber bullets. "Aren't hollow point bullets illegal?"

"What are you doing with my gun?" Mana demanded.

"I'm not doing anything with your gun," Shinji returned as set down the clip and locked the slide back, ejecting the chambered round. "A friend of mine and I were just talking about bullets. So, little Miss Cop carries illegal bullets, eh?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped. "So, what do you need a gun for?"

"I don't need a gun," Shinji stated as he cinched the shoulder holster tight against his T-shirt and pulled on the gray shirt Kensuke had given him. "And you're gonna owe me one for paying for dinner."

"I'll make it worth your while," Mana stated suggestively.

"You and your empty promises," Shinji shot back. Mana laughed at him. The flirting was something he had gotten used to and rather enjoyed anymore.

"So, you're okay?" Mana asked.

"Perfect," Shinji replied as he loaded the chambered round into the magazine and slapped it back into the pistol. "And, as a matter of fact, I'm going to a ball tonight," he added as he thumbed the slide release and slipped the weapon into its hidden holster.

"You never take me out." Shinji could hear the pout in her voice.

"You drag me out a few times a week," he countered.

"That's me dragging you out to cheap dance clubs, not you taking me out to a formal ball." Shinji turned the key in the ignition.

"I have to go now."

"You just don't want to keep talking to me," Mana stated.

"There is that," Shinji commented. "I'll call you later."

"I'll call you," Mana corrected.

"Probably." Shinji flipped the phone shut and stared down at the directions Asuka had given him to the suit shop.

(:ii:)

Shinji climbed back into his car and frowned. The moment he had mentioned that he was Asuka's friend the tailor had refused to let him pay. She had taken all his measurements and guaranteed the tux would be ready by evening. Shinji knew enough about tailors to know that nothing was ever on the house. His phone buzzed and he flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Mister Ikari?"

"Speaking."

"This is Sergeant Takeda with the Tokyo-3 Police Department," the woman on the other end of the line stated. "I was just calling to inquire on the status of Misato Katsuragi. Is she still missing?"

"Yes she is," Shinji stated.

"I see," Takeda replied. "We have the papers right here and we'll begin processing the case as an official missing person."

"Uh. . .thank you," Shinji stated. He had not been expecting that.

"It's our job, sir," Takeda stated.

"Right." Shinji snapped his phone shut and tucked it back in his pocket. He wanted to check out Misato's apartment again. He had better hurry if he wanted to beat the cops there.

(:ii:)

Shinji pushed the door open and stared at the mess in front of him. He took a deep breath and frowned at the tang of cordite still in the air. It would have dissipated more if anyone else had come through here.

Shinji made his way into Misato's room and to her bedside table. He tugged the drawer open and stared at the boxes of .40-caliber bullets and loaded magazines. He glanced around and snatched up a bag before dumping the boxes inside. There were six full boxes, a half-full box, and eight loaded magazines. "And I'm supposed to be paranoid."

Shinji stepped back out into the main room and looked around. The afternoon sun had moved to the other side of the building and the apartment was mostly in shadow. A thin light beam shone feebly from under the couch. "What do we have here?" Shinji fumbled under the couch and pulled out a sleek black pistol with a light attached to the under barrel rails. "Misato." It was her old USP.

Shinji pushed the light's off button and ejected the clip to stare at the holes drilled in the back. There were three rounds in the magazine. He jerked the slide back and caught the ejected round. Four rounds in a gun that could hold fourteen if you kept one chambered. "You gave them hell, didn't you?" Shinji loaded the loose round and slapped the magazine back into the pistol before thumbing the slide release. He tucked it into his waistband and covered it with the tail of his button down. "I'm going to find you."

(:ii:)

"Hey kid. Back again?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied as he put on a smile for the landlord. "You didn't hear anything unusual a couple night ago, did you?"

"I don't actually live here," the man stated. "My girlfriend lives in the landlord's apartment and I was visiting her when you caught me."

"No one reported anything?" Shinji asked.

"No," the man replied. Shinji frowned.

"You said NERV used to pay people off so they wouldn't complain about the noise from our apartment," he stated. The man nodded. "Thanks." He turned and started for his car.

"Did you try the cops?" the man called.

"They'll be by soon. I'd rather you not mention I was here, tampering with the crime scene and all."

"Sure." Shinji nodded his thanks and pulled the door open, tossing the bag containing his acquired ammunition into the passenger seat. He paused as the voice in the back of his mind screeched and Shinji spun. He caught sight of the suited man's shocked expression right before he delivered a whirling hammer strike to the side of the man's face.

In a heart beat all the pain caused by Shinji's busted ribs was gone and he felt the surge of adrenaline flowing through him, strengthening him, making him faster. The man, conversely, was instantly staggered by the heavy blow and stumbled back. Shinji stepped in smoothly and slammed his right elbow into the uninjured side of the man's head before quickly snapping his arm back to deliver the same elbow to the other side of the man's head. It was shockingly easy. The man wasn't much of a fighter without the element of surprise.

That was when Shinji heard the squeal of tires. A black van jumped the curve and Shinji saw the side door open to reveal several heavily armed men as it screeched to a halt. In a heart beat Shinji had dove behind his car and grabbed both his pistols. He took a deep breath, pivoted around the bumper and opened fire with the USP. The first round caught his first victim in the back of the head as one of the men from the van tried to drag him in through the side door. The van squealed out again as the USP's slide locked back. Shinji sprinted into the street and emptied what was left in the SIG's clip into its back windows. He watched the van disappear around the block. "Hey kid! You okay?" Shinji turned and saw the apartment's landlord with an old shotgun in hand.

"I'm fine."

"What the hell was that?" the old man demanded. "Those bastards nearly sideswiped my bike!"

"They're the ones who've got Misato," Shinji stated as he tossed the empty USP into the car and ejected the SIG's clip. He pocketed it and pushed a fresh one into the pistol. He also scooped up the scattered casings and stuffed them in his pockets too. No use getting Mana in trouble if the police had her weapon's firing pin impression on file.

"Who are they?"

"Gonna find out," Shinji stated. He could hear sirens coming closer. "You didn't see me."

"What?" the old man asked.

"I can't afford to put up with the police right now," Shinji stated as he climbed into his car and started the motor. "I need to go." The man stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Right," he replied. "Get out of here kid." Shinji nodded his thanks. He pulled the car out and onto the road as quickly as possible. So Section-2 had it under control, did they? Two squad cars screeched past him and Shinji pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store he had frequented as a teen. He took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and it felt _good_. For the first time in years he felt alive.

(:ii:)

Asuka stared blankly at the pile of papers on her desk and frowned as she heard her door open. "I'm busy!"

"We have a problem." Asuka hesitated and than peeked around the piles to stare at Touji over the rims of her glasses.

"I'm going to guess that it involves Shinji," she stated. Touji nodded solemnly. "You're about to ruin my day, right?" Touji nodded again. "Oh, dear."

(:ii:)

"Wow!" Shinji turned and saw Jenny grinning at him. "You look good."

"Thanks," Shinji replied as he straightened the cuffs of his tuxedo. "You look. . .great." Shinji stared at the woman's bright blue dress for a moment. Kids these days, they had no modesty.

"Thanks!" Jenny cheered, the dress barely containing her curves as she clapped her hands cheerfully. Shinji frowned as she continued to eye him. "Say, what are you doing after the party?"

"Busy," Shinji stated.

"Taken?" Jenny guessed. Shinji thought back to Mana. Their relationship was confusing sometimes, but. . .

"Something like that."

"Too bad," Jenny replied as she grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him through the forming greeting line. "Asuka had me watching out for you. We're having a big meet and greet first and then you're at our table for dinner and than the dancing!"

"Right," Shinji replied absently. He could have sworn that he had seen a flash of blue hair.

"There you are Shinji!" Jenny crashed to a halt and Shinji found himself in front of Asuka. Gone was the harried commander, to be replaced by a beautiful woman in a red dress that was much more modest than her subordinate's, but still fit for a movie star. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the greeting line beside her. "I need you here with me for appearances."

"Gee, thanks." Shinji swore mentally. He had been hoping to ask a few questions without Asuka around. People were a lot more willing, almost eager, to talk about their boss when said boss wasn't around.

"Don't complain," the redhead growled. "It's not like you'd actually meet and greet if I left you alone."

"I might have," Shinji replied as he plastered on a grin and began greeting the people as they filtered past.

"Bullshit."

"Ikari?" Shinji actually looked at the man he had just shaken hands with.

"Sir?" The old man's face split into a bright grin.

"God damned, son! It's been a while." He glanced at Asuka. "Finally settled down, eh? I didn't think you ever would." He turned to Asuka. "Congratulations, Commander Sohryu. I guess it would take a strong woman to leash this dog."

"She's just a friend sir," Shinji stated awkwardly.

"Oh. Still getting around then, eh?" The old man looked around and then leaned forward to whisper in Shinji's ear. "Avoid the clap, son."

"Yes sir." Shinji watched him walk away. "One of my old commanding officers," he stated before Asuka could ask. Sometimes it seemed that he couldn't go near any where in Japan with a military presence without running into someone he knew.

"My liaison to the JSGSDF," Asuka added. She stared at him out of the corner of her eye. "Getting around, huh?"

"I've settled down," Shinji stated somewhat stiffly. "Mostly. I can't believe he said that. Old coot must be going senile."

(:ii:)

"That was hilarious!"

"Wasn't that funny," Shinji stated.

"He told you to avoid the clap," Asuka snickered. Shinji sighed and squinted down at his menu. He had run into several people he had known from his service days. Most of those meetings had ended up with similar greetings.

"Shut up."

"What's the clap?" Jenny asked, a little too loudly for Shinji's preference.

"I half expected you to know," Asuka stated. Jenny stared at her blankly.

"It's an STD," Shinji stated. With a sigh of defeat he reached into an inside pocket in his jacket, taking note of how Asuka stared at him apprehensively, and pulled out his reading glasses.

"Glasses?"

"Old injury," Shinji stated, "detached retina."

"How'd you do that?" Asuka asked. Shinji glanced around at the people sitting at their table. They were the heads of different departments and their dates.

"It's not something to talk about in polite company," he stated.

"Oh, come on!" Jenny pushed.

"Something I was working on blew up in my face," Shinji stated flatly. "Tiny fragments of metal penetrated my goggles and the fibrovascular tissue pulled something. . ."

"The sensory retina from the retinal pigment epithelium," Maya supplied.

"Yeah."

"You seem to have a lot of bombs go off in your face," a new voice commented. Shinji turned and grinned at Kensuke.

"Vocational hazard."

"I know what you mean," Kensuke replied. "I've got a wicked paper cut." Shinji had to laugh at that. "Can I speak with you Red?" Asuka nodded and excused herself.

"So," Shinji began. "What does Gemüt do?"

"That's classified," Touji stated. Shinji frowned at that.

"I see. Do you have these balls often?"

"It gives us the chance to reaffirm our relationships with the economic, political, and social heads of Tokyo-3," Touji stated. The rest of the people at the table seemed to have no problem deferring to him. That was odd for a non-military organization, especially one with doctors. Ph. Ds tended to be habitual know-it-alls who usually couldn't keep their opinions to themselves. Shinji knew from experience. His current roommate was well within that population.

"PR," Shinji translated simply.

"PR," Touji agreed with a precise, calculated nod. "I suppose spec ops don't have to put up with that much."

"I suppose they don't," Shinji replied. Touji wanted to play the classified game? Fine. Shinji could definitely play the classified game and he could almost guarantee he had been playing it longer.

(:ii:)

"Not much of a dancer?" Shinji ventured as he watched Maya order another drink from the open bar.

"Not in these heels." She barely slurred her words, impressive for a woman that size who had been drinking like she had. "Have a drink with me, Shinji." Shinji hesitated. A little voice, much different than the first, kept telling him not too, but it was more tempting than it had been in a long time.

"I don't drink."

"You used to," Maya stated. "I seem to recall you keeping up with Katsuragi on several occasions. Besides, it's my treat!" She made an expressive gesture that sent her off balance and stumbling into Shinji. "It's rude to say no," she added, hugging his arm both of her's. Shinji stared at the racks of expensive liquor. Just one wouldn't hurt, right?

"Sure." Maya smiled and Shinji ordered a cognac on the rocks. They collected their drinks and made their way back to the mostly empty table, Shinji almost carrying the petite brunette. "So, you're the second in command?"

"Yeah," Maya replied as she sipped at the green concoction in her martini glass. "I don't really have any power or do anything other than translate the scientists' findings."

"If you're in charge of the science division, what's Asuka in charge of?" Shinji asked.

"She makes sure everything runs smoothly," Maya stated. "Commander Ikari never managed to do that. That's why they took care of him."

"I thought he was imprisoned," Shinji commented as he set Maya down in her seat. She hiccupped and giggled.

"Nah. They took him out back and put two in his head." More drunken giggling. "You look a lot like him, Shinji, but you don't have a beard and you have really pretty eyes."

"Er. . .yeah." Shinji found that the news of his father's death didn't do a thing to him, good or bad. He supposed that the man had been so far removed from his life for so long that his death just didn't mean anything. "It's kind of weird how no one seems to really be worried about Misato," he added casually.

"It's not a surprise," Maya grumbled, "always sticking her nose where it didn't belong." Shinji's head snapped around, but Maya's forehead had already hit the table and she was snoring softly.

"Damn it, not again." Shinji turned back and found Asuka standing near his side. He had smelled her coming. She was the only person in the room that smelled like cinnamon. "She does this every time."

"Will she be okay?" Shinji asked.

"She'll be fine," Asuka stated. "Section-2 will take care of her. The worst part is that she'll be up and cheerful early tomorrow. I hate her for that."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed.

"Shinji Ikari?" He turned and stared at the blue-haired woman standing on his other side, shocked that someone had actually snuck up on him.

"Damn it Rei, didn't I tell you to stop sneaking up on people?" Asuka demanded.

"I apologize, Commander," Rei Ayanami replied demurely. "Would you join me for a dance?"

"Of course." Shinji took a large gulp of his cognac and rose to follow the woman out onto the dance floor, leaving a stunned Asuka in their wake.

(:ii:)

"Was that Miss Ayanami?" Asuka turned and saw that Jenny had tired of her latest dancing partner.

"Yeah." Asuka frowned as her shock wore off slightly. "Wait, she's Miss Ayanami and I'm just boss?"

"She scares me," Jenny replied, sipping her flute of champagne. She glanced down at Maya and sighed. "Out like a light, eh?"

"You know her," Asuka replied. She just couldn't seem to tear her eyes off her fellow Eva pilots as they swept across the dance floor gracefully.

"He's a good dancer," Jenny commented. "So is she actually. I wouldn't have guessed."

"Neither," Asuka agreed. She picked up Shinji's drink and finished it.

"Say, you wouldn't mind if I waited till he had a few more and. . ."

"No," Asuka snapped.

"So, you want to. . ."

"No!"

"Would you say yes if I invited you?" Asuka gaped at the swaying woman in shock. "It'd be fun! I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Threesome!" Maya slurred. Asuka pinched the bridge of her nose. The brunette would pick this time to come to her senses.

"No!" Jenny pouted and disappeared to go find another man to dance with.

(:ii:)

"Why are you here?"

"Misato asked for my help," Shinji answered truthfully. It was surreal being out on the dance floor with Rei Ayanami, of all people, in his arms. His face felt hot. That one little drink couldn't have hit him this hard, could it? With a tolerance like his it should have taken a lot longer than his few years of abstinence to allow a single glass of cognac to hit him this hard.

"I see." The music slowed and Rei hugged herself to him. "I missed you."

"What?" Shinji must have been drunk. He could have sworn that Rei Ayanami had just told him that she had missed him.

"I enjoyed your company," Rei stated as she rested her head against his chest. Unlike Asuka who was at Shinji's jaw without heels on, Rei barely made it to his shoulder with heels. "It saddened me greatly when you left without warning."

"I didn't know you felt that way," Shinji stated. He had never been too sure that Rei felt any particular way or how he felt for her for that matter.

"I can understand your ignorance," she replied. She leaned back slightly and met his eyes. "You are oddly tense around Commander Sohryu." Shinji frowned in surprise. He was very conscious of his posture at all times. How had she. . ."My lack of expression does not mean that I am not a keen observer of others. Do you not think that she wants Katsuragi found?"

"I don't know," Shinji replied truthfully. It was so hard to come up with some kind of lie when those big red eyes were locked onto his. "I'd just prefer to investigate myself. It's just a part of my nature."

"I understand," Rei stated. Her arms tightened slightly around his neck and she laid her head on his chest again. "If you wish, I would be more than willing to assist in your investigation."

"Could you do that without getting into trouble?"

"I can do as I wish," Rei replied flatly.

"I see." Shinji would ponder that later. "That would be excellent if you could."

"Very well." They danced on for several minutes in silence.

"Ayanami?"

"Yes, Ikari?"

"I missed you too." She leaned back slightly and stared up at him again. Shinji smiled and the corners of her lips twitched upwards.

"I am. . .happy to hear you say that."

(:ii:)

Touji frowned as he watched the dancing couple. He had only told his best agent to confront Ikari and offer her help. Touji didn't believe that he had mentioned the word dance once and yet there they were. "How bothersome."

"What is?" Hikari asked.

"Nothing," Touji stated flatly as he sipped his drink.

"Do you want to dance?" Hikari asked hopefully. "It'll be just like old times."

"I don't dance," Touji returned simply. Hikari's shoulder slumped and she sipped her own drink.

"Oh. Alright than."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. This is what I should have done for my first real outside my normal experiment. Here I'm mixing the more familiar with the less unfamiliar instead of just doing pretty much all unfamiliar. At least it feels better to me. What do you guys think?


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Five:

Shinji stared down at the plate before him. It wasn't that the cafeteria food was horrible, not at all! Compared to some meals he had eaten, it was actually pretty good, it was just that he was fairly sure he would vomit if he ate anything. His phone buzzed and Shinji picked it up, happy for a distraction from the meal before him. "Hello?"

"You don't sound so good," Mana stated. Why was everyone else so happy when you were hung over? 'What was I thinking last night?' he wondered for the umpteenth time.

"I'm fine," he stated.

"You don't sound fine," Mana commented. Leave it to a doctor to tell you whether or not you were fine. "Did you have fun at the party?"

"Maybe a little too much," Shinji replied.

"You were drinking?" Mana asked in disbelief. "You're hung over right now? I thought you gave up drinking!"

"Please don't yell," Shinji whimpered. It had been so long since he'd had a hangover that he had forgotten how miserable they were.

"What's happening to you Shinji?" Mana asked. "Tetsuo thought you two were making real progress. He was so excited when you agreed to try abstinence."

"It was a party," Shinji replied. "I didn't drink much; it's just that my tolerance dropped like a rock." She didn't reply for a long time. "I'm fine, honest."

"I'm coming to you," Mana stated.

"No you aren't," Shinji returned. "Look, the police are on the case and my friends are helping out. It's just a matter of time until she's found."

"You're a good liar sometimes," Mana stated. "I'm starting to wonder if you're a bad liar on purpose so when you lie about something important, I won't be able to tell."

"Maybe," Shinji replied simply. He contemplated how to change the topic. "What do you think about us?"

"What?"

"Us," Shinji repeated, "you and me. What's our relationship?"

"Are you trying to distract me or did you meet some hot young dish?" Mana asked.

"Maybe a little of both." Mana laughed. Obviously she didn't believe that.

"I like you Shinji. Could there be something deeper? Yes, I definitely think so, but I also think this isn't the kind of thing one talks about on the phone."

"True." They sat in silence for what felt like a long time with Shinji contemplating his own feelings.

"How are you feeling?"

"What?"

"How are you feeling?" Mana repeated. "Any anxiety? Trembling of the appendages? Anything unusual?" Shinji held up his hand and stared at his fingers. They were steady as a rock.

"No, why?"

"No reason." Doctors rarely did something for no reason and they never asked those kinds of questions for no reason.

"Is there something I should know?"

"I don't know if you know, but your pills are a rather high dose," Mana stated. "That's why you couldn't just get them in Tokyo-3. There is a slight chance that there will be withdrawal symptoms."

"Like anxiety and shaking appendages?" Shinji asked.

"Those are the most common," Mana stated. "A small percentage of people can become dangerously delusional or suffer varying degrees of paranoia from mild to extremely severe." Shinji froze, the creeping feeling of being watched had been digging into the skin between his shoulder blades since he had awoken. His hands clenched tightly.

"You don't say," he was proud of how steady his voice was.

"Yeah," Mana replied. "Give me a call if you start feeling anxious or your hands are shaking. Most patients stayed at that level for a while and got better, but some really bugged out. There's also the fact that if you start to freak out, we won't know if its withdrawal or maybe, just maybe, you're beginning to relapse." Shinji scowled, thinking back to the days when he hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, had been so sure the world was out to get him. . .

"Okay. I'll call you later." He was proud of how stable he sounded.

"Not if I call you first," Mana replied. "Which I probably will since you seem unable to call me."

"Sorry."

"You really are sometimes." The phone went dead and Shinji set it down. He wasn't paranoid. He wasn't delusional. He had been there. What he felt was real. Shinji hugged his sides and hissed in pain as his battered ribs protested. Delusions didn't fracture bones.

"Morning Shinji." Shinji turned and saw Maya beaming down at him. He had let himself become distracted. "Say, that looks good!"

"Help your self," Shinji stated, pushing his tray in her direction.

"Thanks!"

(:ii:)

"Are you ill, Ikari?" Shinji frowned and glanced at the blue haired woman as she drove them through Tokyo-3's midday traffic.

"I was just a little hung over before," he stated.

"I am speaking about now," Rei stated. "You appear anxious, or perhaps unnerved." Shinji's hands clenched tightly.

"I'm fine," he stated.

"I see," Rei stated. She turned into the parking lot of Misato's old apartment building and quickly found a parking spot for her coup. Shinji pushed his door open and stared at the building. There wasn't a single sign that this had been the location of a shootout yesterday. "Do you want to examine the apartment?"

"Might as well start there," Shinji replied. Maybe Rei would catch something he didn't. Whether or not she would mention it if she did was another story. "Then we can talk to the neighbors."

"The police have probably already questioned them," Rei stated.

"Never hurts to hear things for yourself," Shinji replied as he made his way to the landlord's apartment. He knocked and waited. Nobody answered and Shinji frowned. "Why isn't he answering?"

"Perhaps they aren't home," Rei stated. Shinji glanced back at her and stared at the motorcycle parked near the entrance. It was the one the landlord had complained about nearly being hit. He didn't live here. If he wasn't here, why would he leave him bike? That little voice was back. It told Shinji that something was off. He put his shoulder to the door. "What are you doing Ikari?"

"Something's not right." With a sharp push, the door popped open.

"That's illegal," Rei stated.

"Arrest me," Shinji shot back as he fumbled with the light switch. The apartment was flooded with light and Shinji inspected the door frame and the door. "The chain lock's broken and the frame here has been replaced recently."

"This is a bad part of town," Rei stated. Shinji turned back to the apartment and winced as the smell of bleach assailed his nostrils. "Please stop Ikari. Your actions are illegal."

"Do you smell that?" Shinji asked.

"The apartment has been cleaned," Rei stated. Shinji kneeled and carefully touched the floor. It wasn't quite wet, but the old wooden floor felt like it had been wet recently. He brought his fingers to his nose and frowned.

"Bleach is a little strong for wood floors, don't you think?" he asked. "You might discolor the wood or destroy the sealant."

"I do not understand where you are going with this," Rei stated. Shinji ran his hands over the floor carefully.

"This spot has been cleaned," he stated, indicating to a roughly one meter circle directly in front of the door. "No where else has been cleaned."

"What are you implying?" Rei asked. Shinji ignored her and made his way to the master bedroom. The scent of bleach was so strong it made his eyes water. "This is breaking and entering," Rei continued to protest. Shinji made his way to the bedside table and opened it. He pulled out a half-empty box of 12-guage buckshot shells and reached under the bed. "Tell me what you are doing," Rei ordered. There was an edge to her calm voice.

"Shotgun shells, but no shotgun," Shinji stated.

"Perhaps the shotgun is kept elsewhere," Rei stated.

"No," Shinji replied. "Shells in the drawer would be for self-defense. You keep a self-defense shotgun under the bed. It's common sense." Despite his statement he made a quick search of the room that turned up nothing.

"Maybe there is no shotgun," Rei suggested.

"I saw the landlord with it yesterday," Shinji countered.

"You think something happened?" Rei asked.

"Yeah," Shinji replied.

"Why the landlord then?" Rei asked.

"Talked too much," Shinji replied. The man had been willing to answer every question Shinji had asked. He made his way back out into the entryway. He examined the walls around the door. The paint was brighter, newer, there. "This has been refinished."

"We should report this to the police," Rei stated.

"Sure," Shinji replied as he grabbed the key ring from beside the door. "You do that. I'm going to check Misato's apartment."

"I will accompany you."

"I thought you would."

(:ii:)

"So, care to explain this one?" Asuka demanded as she glared at Touji.

"What one?" Touji asked.

"Why did you tell Rei to help Shinji?" Asuka demanded. Touji's lips curled into an almost sneer.

"Jealous?"

"Why?" Asuka snapped.

"I want to know what he finds," Touji stated. "I want to know what my boys missed."

"What makes you think he'll find something that your best missed?" Asuka demanded.

"Just a feeling," Touji stated. "Ikari is good. Make no mistake." Asuka stared at the man.

"You've found something out about him," she stated. Touji didn't need to answer that. "I thought I was supposed to know as soon as you knew."

"My people found out some rather interesting information," Touji stated. "Ikari was a combat engineer with the Tenth Infantry Regiment, Eleventh Division of the Northern Army. He was good enough to be sent in a Japanese task force assigned to a UN peace keeping operation in the Middle East. While there the SOG approached his unit and requested an engineer. Ikari was the senior engineer and was thus assigned to them."

"Who's the SOG?" Asuka asked. She wasn't as familiar with the Japanese military as she probably should have been.

"The Special Operations Group of the Central Readiness Force is Japan's premier anti-terrorism unit," Touji stated.

"How good are they?" Asuka asked.

"They're Japan's Delta Force," Touji stated. "Like their American counterparts, not much is known officially, so all we really have is speculation. Make no mistake, they are good, certainly on Delta's level. Ikari did a short stint in the first platoon of the Second SOG Company and a much longer stint in the fourth platoon of the same company. Their specialties are freefall and urban combat respectively. Nothing of what he's actually done in the field, or even which AOs he's been in, is known. We can, however, speculate at combat zones where Japan's SOG is thought to have been involved. When he was in first platoon he could have been almost anywhere and there are at least twenty possible zones he might have been involved in. When he was in fourth platoon there are three hundred and eighty-one possible zones he could have been involved in, excluding all zones that were not in urban terrain."

"So he was Spec Ops," Asuka stated quietly.

"Absolutely," Touji stated.

"What could a Spec Ops group want with an engineer?" Asuka asked.

"Lots of things," Touji stated. "At that time he was qualified as an explosive ordinance disposal technician instructor as well. That would make him familiar with improvised explosives and booby traps. That's in addition to his obvious familiarity with demolitions. There are a lot of possible applications for that skill set in the special operations community, especially in urban combat. Like I said before; he's dangerous."

"What about his stay in the mental ward?" Asuka asked quietly.

"He was admitted for a complete nervous breakdown," Touji stated. "This was within days of being discharged for his hearing. Being discharged for mental health can have serious affects on post-service life. It sounds, to me, like someone was coving Ikari's ass. He freaked out and someone got him a discharge for his hearing and than checked him into the loony bin."

"Do you know what caused his breakdown?" Asuka asked.

"We're working on it."

(:ii:)

"Damn it." Shinji glared at the door and tried the key again.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked.

"This lock's been replaced," Shinji stated. "It wasn't replaced the last time I was here."

"When was that?" Rei asked.

"Yesterday," Shinji stated flatly. Why bother hiding that? Rei probably already knew about his little firefight.

"Perhaps the landlord replaced the door," Rei stated.

"Before or after he disappeared?" Shinji snapped. He tried the master key again and scowled as the door remained locked. "Besides, he would have gotten any new locks keyed to the skeleton key."

"What are you implying?" Rei asked.

"I don't think the landlord replaced this," Shinji answered.

"You are being irrational," Rei stated. Shinji froze, desperately going over his train of thought. Was he being irrational?

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"You are jumping to conclusions with little or no evidence to prove them," Rei stated. "How would you justify breaking and entering?"

"I had a feeling," Shinji snapped.

"Feelings are non-admissible in court," Rei stated. "Only facts. . ."

"Cash makes facts," Shinji cut in absently. He turned back to the door. He was being irrational. He could see it from her point of view, but he knew he was on to something. 'The first sign of being crazy is not thinking you're crazy,' something stated in the back of Shinji's mind. It wasn't the voice from before. He knew it wasn't. He knew it was wrong. "Already committed one crime today." He tried the knob one more time and put his shoulder to it. The door burst open and Shinji stepped into the apartment.

"This is going to become an issue between us," Rei stated. "Gemüt is meant to maintain order, not commit petty crime."

"Depending on what I take it might be a felony," Shinji replied as he looked around the apartment. It had been cleaned as well. "Shit. Don't suppose the Tokyo-3 PD has time to clean up crime scene, eh?"

"They do not," Rei replied. Shinji scowled and made his way to Misato's room. It was clean.

"Now that's suspicious."

"It appears this is a dead end," Rei stated.

"Not necessarily," Shinji stated. He kneeled in the corner and pulled his old Gerber multi-tool out of the pouch on his belt. He had searched through the trunk of his car and taken several rather useful items out. He unfolded the tool's knife and wedged it into the crack between a pair of floor boards.

"What is that?" Rei asked.

"Misato's secret hiding spot," Shinji stated. "She used to hide her porn and other such things in here."

"How do you know about it?" Rei asked.

"She used to forget to put the cover back on," Shinji replied as he popped the floorboard up. "Looks like she got a lot more careful after I left." He pushed aside the usual sexual paraphernalia and found a single flash drive. "Bingo."

"What have you found?" Rei asked.

"Something," Shinji replied as he tucked the flash drive into his pocket and folded his multi-tool back up.

"I will take it to Gemüt to be analyzed," Rei stated.

"I'll handle it," Shinji stated.

"Anything you find will be inadmissible," Rei stated.

"I'll get over it,' Shinji replied. He turned and considered Rei as she did the same to him.

"You don't trust us," she stated.

"Why should I?"

"We have been nothing if not accommodating," Rei stated. "We've given you no reason not to trust us. How do you explain your current attitude? It is illogical."

"I just don't," Shinji stated. Rei considered him solemnly.

"Your hands are shaking." Shinji looked down and stared at the twitching fingers of his right hand. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

"It's nothing."

"I see."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. We all know that something is going down, but Shinji doesn't know that and for all you and he know, he is just going bat shit insane. However, just because you're bat shit insane doesn't mean you're wrong. Except for that guy outside the mall. He's bat shit insane and he's wrong. After all, if the Jews really ran everything, American wouldn't be up to its eyes in debt.

Oh, and here's the oddity of my mind at work. I'm doing prelim work for two stories. One of them is sort of a cross over with Assassin's Creed. I'll tell you about the other later.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Six:

Hikari tried to shriek as a hand clamped over her mouth and she was dragged into one of the examining rooms. "It's me." She relaxed slightly as she recognized Shinji's voice. "Scream and I'll make it so you can never scream again." Hikari tensed up immediately. Was that really Shinji? "Understand?" She nodded and Shinji released her. "I have a few questions for you."

"How did you get in here?" Hikari demanded as she turned to face Shinji. There was something different about him. He carried himself different than the last time she had seen him and his eyes were almost scarily focused.

"I have my ways," Shinji stated. "Tell me about Gemüt."

"It isn't safe to talk here," Hikari stated, looking around nervously.

"Where is safe?" Shinji asked.

"No where," Hikari replied. "I'm always followed Shinji." Shinji looked around carefully and Hikari frowned as she noticed him reach under his button down shirt. "I can't help you Shinji. I wish I could. . ."

"Don't bother," Shinji stated. "If you really wanted to, you would." With that he swept out of the room, leaving Hikari alone with her thoughts. If she really wanted to, she would? That wasn't true, was it?

(:ii:)

"Where have you been?"

"I had to return my tux," Shinji stated as he fed the vending machine a few more coins. "Late fees are killers with those things."

"You would not have been subject to late fees," Rei stated.

"Really now?" Shinji watched as his cup was filled with coffee. The machine buzzed and he snatched up the flimsy Styrofoam container greedily.

"Have your tremors ceased?"

"Steady as a rock," Shinji replied as he held up the hand not holding his coffee. He finished it quickly and threw the cup away.

"Do you have any ideas where to search next?" Rei asked. Shinji scowled as he thought of that. Misato's apartment had turned up almost nothing. He had no leads except the flash drive and he had no idea where to get a computer to open it without Gemüt finding out. He was going to have to start doing drastic and disturbing things. He couldn't afford to have an audience when it came down to that. Shinji paused and considered his thoughts. The lack of concern that he was considering torture should have bothered him, but it didn't.

"Those damn pills."

"What?" Rei asked.

"Nothing," Shinji replied. "I need to go see someone."

"Do you need help finding your way?" Rei asked.

"I've got it," Shinji replied.

(:ii:)

Maya scowled as she leafed through the reports that had been given to her as soon as she had stepped into her office. "And today started so well." Someone knocked and Maya stuffed the reports back into her in tray, eager for an excuse to ignore them. "Come in." The door opened and Shinji poked his head in.

"Hello Miss Ibuki." Maya winced as the title.

"Shinji, you look way to old to be calling me miss," she stated.

"I do?" Shinji scratched his head. "What? Are my gray hairs showing?" Maya laughed. "I wasn't kidding." Maya scowled as she thought of a person less than a decade younger than her having gray hairs.

"Just come in." Shinji nodded and closed the door behind him. "What can I help you with Shinji?"

"I was wondering when you'd like to go have that drink," the dark-haired man replied.

"How about now?" Maya asked, eyeing her overstuffed in tray.

"You can just take off work?"

"I'm the second in command," she replied. "You were military, you know how that works." Shinji laughed along with her. "I know the perfect bar. Let's go!"

(:ii:)

"Wow." Shinji watched as Maya downed another drink. He had, had almost the same amount to drink and, despite having roughly twice her mass, he was starting to feel the affects.

"This is nothing!" Maya cheered. Shinji signaled the bartender for another.

"When did you start drinking like this?" he asked. He couldn't quite picture the quiet tech had had known so many years ago putting away booze at this rate.

"A few years ago." Maya hiccupped and giggled. "When they made me second in command I needed it."

"How come?" Shinji asked.

"It's a lot of stress," Maya stated. She dug through her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She took one and offered the box to Shinji.

"I don't smoke."

"Did you quit all your vices while you were away?"

"How do you know I smoked?" Shinji asked. He had been so careful to cover it up when he had started. Misato had never even figured out that he was pilfering her smokes until he was old enough to buy his own.

"Section-2 flagged it in their reports to Doctor Akagi," Maya stated. "She would have complained about the adverse affects on your health, but decided that you probably wouldn't live long enough to die from it."

"Gee, thanks." Apparently they had reached the point Shinji had been shooting for.

"Don't take it personally," Maya replied as she lit her cigarette. The smell was intoxicating. "You were a kid thrown into a war with no training. I thought you were dead that first battle."

"Close," Shinji replied. He scowled as his trembling fingers sent some of his beer spilling over the edge of the glass. "Give me one of those." Maya giggled and handed him one before lighting it for him. "I'm a bad influence on you."

"I'll say." Shinji inhaled deeply and nearly moaned in pleasure as the warm smoke filled his lunges. He had forgotten how good it felt. As the nicotine took affect, his fingers finally ceased shaking. He held up his hand and smiled. Steady as a rock. "And I was just beginning to enjoy a vice-free lifestyle." He glanced at Maya. "So, what else did Section-2 know?"

"They knew about your girlfriends," Maya stated with a sly grin. "Doc Akagi nearly had a heart attack the first time that showed up in a report."

"I guess that was a bit of a shock," Shinji replied with a chuckle. What had her name been? Natalie. She had been an American, studying abroad. "Heh. I loved her eyes."

"I seem to recall she had other rather nice assets," Maya commented suggestively. "Although, I bet those were fake."

"They were real," Shinji corrected. "I checked. . .thoroughly." That sent Maya into a fit of giggles. Shinji considered her as she ordered another drink. How best to bring up the topic he had in mind?

"You said Misato was always sneaking around." Shinji could have slapped himself. Mana was definitely right. He was way too blunt.

"Oh yeah," Maya replied. "I hate what Gemüt is doing too, but I have the brains to keep my head down. That's why I'm still here and she isn't."

"What is Gemüt doing?" Shinji asked.

"It's horrible." Shinji could see tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared at her drink. "They're just. . ."

"Good afternoon ma'am." They both jerked and stared at the dark suited man who had appeared at Maya's side. "It's time to get you home. . .again."

"Who the hell are you?" Shinji demanded.

"Section-2," the man stated as he flashed him I.D. "I'm in charge of watching out for Sub-Commander Ibuki. I think you've have enough now. Let's get going." Shinji scowled. He wanted to kill the man and find out just what the hell she was going to say. Shinji's fingers curled into tights fists as he considered that, but he also took in his surroundings. There were at least a dozen other dark-suited men, way too many for Shinji to take on so brazenly. He returned his glare to the man who was trying to coax Maya out of her chair and noticed something rather interesting.

"Do I know you?"

"No sir," the man replied stiffly.

"You're right," Shinji stated. "You just look a lot like someone I already met in this city." Shinji smirked as the man's fist tightened. Yes, there was a definite resemblance to the man Shinji had been attacked by and than killed. Their faces were far too similar. They had to be family; if not siblings, than definitely cousins. "I almost thought you were him, but that'd be impossible now." The man's jaw was clenched hard and the vein at his temple was bulging.

"How odd," he gritted out. He helped Maya out and Shinji swallowed his drink. He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number from memory. It rang a few times before finally being picked up."

"Go ahead caller."

"It's Ikari," Shinji stated. "How are you doing Takahashi?"

"Pretty good Sergeant," the man returned. "I'm loving civilian life. This new job of mine is bringing in the major cash. I heard you got out too."

"A year or two back," Shinji stated. "Listen, I need to talk to you about that new job."

"I thought you were on the straight and narrow," Takahashi commented.

"So did I," Shinji returned. "You got a pen and paper?"

"Yep."

"Good, because this is going to be a long and interesting list," Shinji stated.

"Oh. Are we going to war?"

"All signs are pointing to yes."

"Cool. Where are you?"

"Tokyo-3."

"Outstanding! Someone in that shit hole is undercutting my prices on bulk sales," Takahashi growled. "It's about time they learned that, in the illegal arms trade, competition is murder."

(:ii:)

Shinji stared at the sky overhead and blew a stream of smoke at the clouds. He was about to take drastic and irreversible steps. One couldn't do that without really contemplating it. He heard a car pull up and a door open. Shinji's hand drifted to the SIG-Sauer hidden under his shirt. "What are you doing, Ikari?"

"Thinking," Shinji replied as he thumbed the hammer back. His hand slid out from under his shirt as Rei appeared in his line of sight. "Join me." Rei stared at him for a moment before climbing up onto the hood of Shinji's car beside him.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she took in the view.

"Misato brought me here after my first battle," Shinji stated as he sat up and stared down at the amazing view from the Tokyo-3 Lookout. He tossed the butt of his cigarette over the edge and lit a new one.

"I have never been here," Rei stated. "Now, what are you thinking about?"

"You know, I never could read you," Shinji commented. "I was pretty bad at understanding people before. I'm much better now, but I still can't read you. You could be lying to me and I would never know. You could have been lying from the start."

"What am I lying about?" Rei asked.

"I don't know," Shinji stated. "That's what's bothering me."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Orders, personal decision, the answers are endless." Shinji considered the city below him. Everything was becoming clearer and clearer. The little voice warning him that he was wrong had been getting quieter up until this moment. At this exact moment, it had fallen mute. All that time he had been on those pills, he had forgotten his instincts. They had fallen silent, smothered by those damned medications the doctors had pumped in him. He understood now. It was all so clear to him.

"You can trust me, Shinji," Rei stated. Shinji marveled at her use of his first name. He couldn't remember if she had ever said it like that.

"I really wish I could, Rei."

"What is stopping you?"

"Instinct." His hard left cross caught her completely by surprise and knocked the slightly built woman sprawling from the hood. Shinji climbed off as well, stretching slightly in case the first blow hadn't done the job. It was all for naught, as Rei Ayanami lay unconscious in the grass. "No turning back now." Shinji took her cell phone, pistol, and car keys before depositing her in her own car. Shinji climbed into his own car and stared at the list he had taped to the dash. It was his battle plan, starting from the most easily accessed person, to the least. He would start at the bottom and work his way up. He was done questioning his own sanity. He would find Misato tonight. What came after that. . .well, only time would tell. Shinji had a pretty good guess though. That was why he had to go see Takahashi.

(:ii:)

Mana yawned and stared at her computer. She hadn't been sleeping well, not since Shinji had left. Now she had only an hour to go before she could go home and try to sleep, maybe try calling Shinji again. "Mana!" Mana looked up and frowned as the officer standing in front of her desk.

"What's wrong Megumi?"

"This just came in," Megumi stated as she held out a paper. Mana took it and scanned over the first few lines before her jaw dropped. "That's Shinji, right?" Mana read the I.D. number printed under Shinji's name three more times.

"It's him."

"He's wanted by the Tokyo-3 PD for assault on a UN officer," Megumi stated. Mana could feel her heart sink as she stared at the paper.

"You have to cover for me."

"What?" Megumi demanded.

"Cover for me," Mana repeated. "I have to try calling him." Megumi eyed her sympathetically for a moment before nodding.

"I'll stall the Chief."

"Thanks," Mana snatched up her handbag and bolted for the elevator. She was dialing Shinji's number before the doors had even closed. He picked up after the first ring.

"Hey Mana."

"Don't you 'Hey Mana' me!" Mana snapped. "What's happening Shinji?"

"I was just thinking about when we met," Shinji stated. "Remember that? It was at the Veteran's Hospital. You were doing volunteer work. I thought you were a patient and you thought I was a new doctor. We had lunch and then my psychiatrist came. I remember the look on your face when you found out I was a patient. I always kind of figured that meant I was pretty much cured, or that you just had bad taste in men."

"What are you talking about?" Mana demanded. "Shinji, you sound like you're about to die."

"I might be," Shinji stated. "I won't fool myself or you. I'm going against some pretty big unknowns right now." He was silent. "I wish we had more time together."

"Just come back now," Mana pleaded. "We can get this all sorted out Shinji. You're just sick right now. We can get you all fixed up again."

"I'm fine," Shinji stated serenely. "I'm actually thinking clearly for the first time in a long time. I can't just come back, I've already burned that bridge."

"Please, tell me what's happening."

"No," Shinji stated. "I don't know how far they go. They own everyone here and I wouldn't doubt that they have people in your department. You'd only be in danger if you knew." Mana's heart sank like a stone. He was becoming delusional again. "I'm not crazy. I've been there. This isn't that."

"Shinji, you're saying that you're fighting some kind of organization with spies everywhere," Mana stated. "Tell me that doesn't sound a little crazy to you." Shinji snorted with laughter.

"I guess that's the difference between you and me," he stated. "I've just been around too long and gone too far. I've seen and done so much that normal people wouldn't be able to comprehend. To me, shadowy conspiracies are a very real thing."

"I'm coming to Tokyo-3." Mana was beginning to panic. A man she cared very deeply for was careening towards the edge. Even if he was somehow right, he was still in danger.

"No," Shinji stated simply. "You are going to stay far away because I am going to raze this city to the ground until I find her and than I'm going to destroy them."

"Who's them?" Mana demanded.

"That'd be telling," Shinji stated. It was definitely time for Mana to play her trump card.

"Do you really think Misato would want you to do this for her?" she asked. The line was silent. The pause lasted so long that Mana wondered if he had hung up.

"No, she wouldn't," Shinji stated finally. "But I'm going to do it for her anyway, because that's just the way I am. I don't let my debts go unpaid and I owe her. And Mana. . ."

"I'm going to kill you if you say you love me!" Mana snapped.

"You'll have to wait in line," Shinji replied. "I love you." This time he really did hang up and Mana felt tears stream down her face. How had this all gone so very wrong?

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Well, it seems dramatic to me, but I'm not really one to judge. That's why I keep you guys around. So, is it drama, or is it just me failing this whole 'serious' thing again?

And I know you were all missing my weekly bitch sessions and stories, so this week you get a story and a bitch session. Story first.

I was hanging out with my friends and it was late. Get where this is going? No, not there. Get your mind out of the gutter. Anyway, we got out the old laptop and hit retrojunk. That was our first mistake. We began watching the openings from the old TV shows. That was our second mistake. After much eye dabbing one man finally put our feelings into words. "I just realized something. Every time we watch an opening, I get that old excited feeling, wanting to know what episode it is. Than it stops." His little brother was there. That was our third mistake. He turns to us. "Those looked pretty cool. I wish I was alive back when they were on." Three strikes and that was it. I went home and drank myself to sleep. God I miss the old cartoons. My friends and I agreed. If we won the lottery we would buy every episode of those old shows and start a real cartoon network. We bet that our ratings would be through the fucking roof.

Now for the rants.

Gayness in fanfiction. Holy shit. It's not that I'm a homophobe. I am very tolerant of everything, largely due to my being too lazy to care. That's right. The key to peace is being too lazy to hate anyone. Anyway, there is too much of this shit! There are more gay couples than strait. And what's worse is that all the gay characters are suddenly strait and the straitest male character is a bigger flamer than Liberace (anyone going to guess how many times I tried to figure out how to spell that?). Hell, if there's only one male character, they make another! My biggest problem with it all is that it's poorly written. It's not a "let's take a deep emotional trip and try to explain the character's feelings" kind of deal. No, it's a "hey these two characters are hot, they must fuck each other" kind of deal. It's like asking a guy to write a deep lesbian romance. Dear god! Are there no more author's out there updating save fangirls?! Gah! You made me use a question mark and an exclamation mark! Curse you! And to those who have sent me stories to review, I am holding judgment until I can get the time to read them.

That's right, some of you little bastards found your balls and risked a scathing review in sending me stories. Now I just need to make time to read them. I stopped reading fanfiction pretty much because no one updates anything good and I forgot how much time reading can eat up. I'm working on it! I promise. note: has fingers crossed.

There, good enough? One full page of bitching and stories.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Seven

"Hey Takahashi." Shinji smirked as the man jumped and spun around, a pistol appearing in his hand. He stared at Shinji for a minute before grinning.

"You always were the only guy who could sneak up on me."

"I'm good like that," Shinji stated. "Now stop pointing that thing at me or I'm going to take it and beat you with it." Takahashi laughed and holstered his weapon. "Did you get what I needed?"

"Right here," Takahashi replied as he held up a small black bag. "The rest of the stuff will be here by tomorrow. Alright?"

"Fine," Shinji replied. "Open the bag." Takahashi stared at him in surprise for a moment before kneeling and opening the bag. He emptied its contents onto the ground.

"Getting paranoid in your retirement," he commented.

"You have no idea," Shinji replied as he examined the contents and put them back in the bag. He picked up a black case and opened it to reveal a thick cylinder and a threaded pistol barrel.

"So," Takahashi began. "Who pissed you off and what did they do?"

"Somebody," Shinji replied vaguely as he drew Misato's USP and swapped out its barrel quickly. The sights had already been elevated to clear an added suppressor. He holstered the weapon again and tucked the suppressor in his pocket before closing the bag.

"Need any help?"

"I got it," Shinji answered. He slung the bag over his shoulder and grinned at Takahashi. "Trust me."

"You know I do." Shinji considered the man. They had served together for years, saved each other's lives multiple times, gotten into dozens of bar fights on almost ever continent on the planet.

"You any good with computers?"

"Does hacking porn sites count?"

"More experience than me." Shinji pulled the flash drive out of his pocket and held it out. "Have a look at that for me; would you?"

"Is it porn?"

"Might be." Takahashi grinned and flashed him a thumbs up. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Shinji paused and considered the man.

"Give me your coat."

"Now you want the clothes off my back?" Takahashi asked, plucking the lapels of his black trench coat.

"Yes."

(:ii:)

Hikari pushed the door to her apartment open and stepped inside, closing the door quickly. Even the ritzy parts of Tokyo-3, like where the Suzuharas' pent house was, were dangerous at night. She flicked the lights on and shrieked in surprise at the man standing in the middle of her apartment. "Round two Hikari."

"Shinji?"

"Got it in one," he stated. "Now you're going to answer my questions."

"I. . .I can't!" Hikari protested. "I told you, I'm being watched!" Shinji smiled tightly and held up a long knife clutched in one glove-clad fist. The black blade gleamed wetly in the light from the lamps.

"I took care of them." Hikari staggered back a step, her back to the door as Shinji absently wiped the blood off on her sofa and slipped the knife under his coat.

"You killed them?"

"Oh yeah," he replied. "I really don't want to kill you Hikari. You were always decent to me, don't make me do something I might regret." Hikari's hand slid to the door knob and Shinji blurred suddenly, his coat flaring open as he snatched up his knife. In less than a second the long black knife was embedded in the wall next to her head. Hikari stared at it in shock and Shinji grinned. "And my old CO said I'd never find a use for that party trick."

"Shinji. . ."

"What is Touji doing?" Shinji asked.

"He runs Section-2," Hikari stated. "He does. . .he does horrible things to the people who try to stop them. I've seen the way he chuckles when the news talks about disappearances and how he comes home with his cuffs covered in blood after spending all night out."

"Has he ever told you anything specific?"

"He's not that stupid," Hikari stated. "And I'm not stupid. I know the man I married. That man isn't who I'm married to now." Shinji considered her carefully.

"Why stay married than?"

"I still love him Shinji." Shinji stared at her and frowned as his cell phone buzzed. He fished it out and saw Takahashi's number on the screen.

"Problem?"

"I opened that flash drive," Takahashi stated. "The code looks like it was written by an epileptic monkey and you won't believe what's on this thing."

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

"Remember the leftist guerillas in Bolivia?" Shinji shifted slightly as memories of desecrated bodies piled high under the baking sun. Out of many similar scenes, that was by far the worst he had ever seen.

"Hard to forget," he replied. "That was pretty bad, even by our standards."

"The stuff here makes those guys look like amateurs," Takahashi replied. "That was down and dirty. This is a pro operation."

"Give me a location," Shinji ordered.

"Yes sir. Looks like warehouse twelve on the docks." Hikari spun, trying to grab the door knob and Shinji drew the suppressed USP. The weapon kicked once. "You want assistance? Sergeant? Are you still there?"

"I'm here. Sorry. Wasn't paying attention." Shinji holstered his pistol and made his way to the door. He retrieved his knife and kicked the door open. "I'll be fine on my own."

"That's a bad idea there Sergeant," Takahashi commented.

"I'm not looking for a fight," Shinji replied as he made his way to the elevator. "This will just be a scouting run. I need you to get my equipment pronto."

"I have minions to do that for me," Takahashi replied. "Ow! Hey! Give me my phone back!"

"Ikari?"

"Captain Minekura?"

"Yes. Listen. . ."

"You're one of Takahashi's minions, sir?"

"I am not a minion," Minekura stated sharply. "I am an employee. Don't you do something stupid Ikari."

"Not planning on it, sir." Shinji reached for the call button and hesitated as the light indicating which floor the elevator was on began to rise by itself. He reached under his coat and drew the USP again.

(:ii:)

Touji scowled as he stared around his pent house. "We lost contact with the guards and came to investigate. This is how we found her."

"How bothersome." His wife's glazed eyes stared back at him, the hole above her right eye still leaking blood.

"Did she know anything sir?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" Touji snapped. "She knew nothing."

"I see sir."

"Clean this up."

"Yes sir."

(:ii:)

Shinji moved quickly among the shipping crates. Following the road would be quicker, but this was a little bit stealthier. Stealthier was goon. Shinji really didn't like getting shot at and liked being shot even less. Warehouse twelve loomed before him and Shinji frowned. There weren't any windows. He kept to the shadows and made his way around the structure, noting the men casually standing at the entrance and the numerous video cameras.

"Shit." This wasn't going to be easy. He should have brought along Takahashi and the captain as decoys. A fire escape caught Shinji's eye. He bounded forward, leapt and managed to catch hold the metal stairway's second level, neatly avoiding the camera watching the first. He pulled himself up and scaled the stairway in massive bounds that covered at least four steps each. He reached the top in a handful of heartbeats and took in the layout. There were only two guards and one camera. Shinji drew the USP and took aim. The camera would be first and then the guards. He would have to take care of this quickly before someone noticed.

Three shots later, Shinji pushed the roof access door open and descended into the darkness beyond. He considered the tiny night vision monocle in his pocket, but ignored it as he came to the catwalk that ran along the building's perimeter, high above the floor below. "Shit."

Takahashi's warning had done the place little justice. This was a torture factory. Somehow the cold, business-like atmosphere made it even more chilling than other such places he had been in. Those had been easy to justify. Those had been about hatred. This place was all about business.

Far below rows of clear cells held a few prisoners, all naked, a classic opening interrogation technique. The various pieces of torture equipment were set against the far wall where the concrete floor had been covered in ornate tiling to ease cleaning. All of the stations were mercifully empty as a single man wearing a butcher's smock used a hose to chase blood towards a large drain in the floor.

A quick scan of the open floor plan revealed no other occupants and Shinji put the butcher down with a single shot before scaling a ladder in the corner. He hit the ground silently and searched the butcher's body for keys. Once found he made his way towards the cells. They only contained three occupants. Two were men, too far gone to react to Shinji's presence. The third however, was the very person Shinji had started all this for. "Misato!" The purple haired woman flinched and slowly turned. She stared at Shinji in utter silence as he opened the door. "Misato, it's me."

"It can't be you," she whispered. "You're not real."

"I'm real," Shinji stated as he hugged her tightly, frowning as she flinched away. Shinji pulled back and took in the true extent of her wounds. It hit him like a bag of bricks. She was on borrowed time. "It's really me Misato." He saw tears well up in her eyes and she flung herself at him suddenly, clutching him tightly.

"You really came."

"I did." How much time did she have? The only thing keeping her going was will, and she probably didn't have much of that left. "I told you I would, didn't I?"

"I missed you so much." Her skin felt cold.

"It'll be okay, Misato," Shinji stated. Mana had wondered at his lying ability. He thought he was pretty damn good when he tried. She had stopped crying. Was she calming, or did she just have no more tears? "I'm going to get you to a hospital."

"They. . .they. . .the did. . ."

"Shush," Shinji ordered. "You're okay now. I'm here and I'll make them pay for what they did to you. Hell will seem like a release after I'm done with them."

"Thank you." Her body slumped heavily against him, no longer able to support her. Shinji held her close until she was gone. That terrible, powerful will that had kept her alive had disappeared the moment she had seen that he was real. Unwilling to break before her captors, she had died before her friend. Shinji lowered her to the ground and swallowed heavily. He looked around, wanting to scream, wanting to kill. His eyes fell upon a heavy propane tank in the corner. It was attached to a stove where several blunt tools rested on the burners. It was a big one too.

Shinji silently reached into his bag and pulled out a spool of thin, black detcord. He began measuring it off against his forearm as he eyed the tank. This would be tricky. He wasn't familiar with the newest stuff. It felt too light, even though the markings insisted it was equivalent to the old two hundred gram stuff. He made his way to the butcher and tugged out his wallet. He flipped it open and stared at the I.D. "Section-2." Shinji lashed out with a dozen hard kicks until the man's ribcage collapsed, but it did little to calm the monster twisting and growling in his head. It wasn't enough. He wanted screams and blood, lots of each. He hadn't been able to kill Rei before. This time wouldn't be a problem. Nope, not a problem for any of them.

(:ii:)

"Sir!" Touji turned and frowned at the agent running towards him.

"What is it?" he snapped. This was turning out to be quite a bothersome night.

"The interrogation center just exploded."

"What?" Touji roared. He was sprinting towards his Buick before he even realized what he was doing. The younger agent paced his limping stride with ease. "What happened?" What a stupid question. He knew what had happened, or rather, who happened.

"We don't know yet sir," the agent stated. "The firefighters won't let anyone in yet until they inspect the structure, but one of them stated that everything inside was destroyed by the blast."

"Well that's good." The fire chief was on the pay role, but he hadn't been made privy to all that Gemüt did. It would cost much to keep him silent if he found the equipment in that warehouse. "What of the men guarding it?"

"All dead." Touji slid into his car and jerked his head towards the passenger door. The agent climbed in quickly. "So far it looks like they were killed by the blast."

"I'll wait for a coroner's report before I accept that," Touji stated. He doubted rather strongly that all his men had been killed by just a blast.

"Of course sir."

(:ii:)

Kensuke frowned as he stepped into his apartment. He was pretty sure that he had left his window closed. As a matter of fact, he was sure of it. Kensuke reached for the pistol under his jacket. He didn't reach it in time as a heavy first slammed into his head and sent him sprawling. The lights flashed on and Kensuke stared at his attacker. "Shinji."

"Kensuke," Shinji replied with a curt nod. "I need a blueprint of the Geo-Front."

"What makes you think I have. . ." Kensuke trailed off as Shinji pulled a long knife out from under his coat. He glanced at the man's face and fought the urge to try escaping. Shinji's face, normally subtly expressive, was empty of all emotion. His eyes, however, burned brightly with something, something that made Kensuke's skin crawl.

"I know you," Shinji stated. "You have the blueprint and I have no problem cutting off appendages until it appears."

"You'd torture an old friend?" Kensuke asked.

"Let me tell you a story," Shinji stated. "Once there was a lowly reporter. He wasn't important, but he was honest. Someone approached that reporter with an offer. They offered him power and money if he would just look the other way or maybe do a little misdirecting in his stories. Maybe the reporter was horrified at first, maybe not, but in the end he took the offer. Now he's the editor and doesn't have to write stories anymore, he just edits and censors those by his employees. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah," Kensuke replied quietly. "How'd you figure it out?"

"I've seen this kind of thing before," Shinji stated. "Amateurs think they have to buy the police first, but pros know that the press has the real power. Now, what about those blue prints?" Kensuke climbed to his feet slowly and made his way towards one of the filing cabinets along the wall.

"So, what set this off?" he asked. "What did you find, Shinji?"

"I found Misato." Kensuke turned and looked at the man.

"Well, where is she?"

"Dead."

"I see." Kensuke opened the cabinet.

"How much do you know?" Shinji asked.

"I'm paid not to know," Kensuke stated. "I'm paid to ignore and I'm good at it." His own words made him feel sick. How had it come to this? When he was young, he thought he could change the world. Then came the offer of money. Well, there were always others who could make the world better, weren't there? "Here." Shinji took the papers and looked them over carefully, tracing a finger along them. "Don't trust me?"

"Of course not." Shinji folded the papers and tucked them in his pocket. "Where do you want it? How about the head?" Kensuke shook violently, the realization that he was about to die hit him hard.

"I'll do it."

"What?"

"I'll do it," Kensuke repeated. "At least let me die with my honor."

"What honor?" With that the pistol kicked and Kensuke's world went black.

(:ii:)

Shinji stared at the dead body of his friend and holstered his pistol. He needed to get out of here. Touji might suspect that he was chasing down the people he knew and come here. Shinji wasn't entirely sure that he could take the man single-handedly, at least not with all the body guards he was bound to have. Once Shinji got his hands on the proper tools, Touji wouldn't be a problem.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again Kensuke." Shinji opened the door and stepped into the hallway beyond. He pulled out his notebook and stared at the few remaining names.

Hikari had been first on his list because of her accessibility and her apathy towards Gemüt. Kensuke had been next because of accessibility. Now only Maya remained on his list of people he knew who he could question. She wouldn't be easy to reach again, not after the events of tonight. Fortunately, Shinji didn't have any more questions. It was definitely time to go for the sources.

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Depressing? Meh. You can be sad. I'm having fun again. I just realized as I wrote this that just about everyone from the series was either dead already or killed in this chapter. If my numbers are right, only Maya, Asuka, Touji, Rei and Shinji are left. Shit! I just realized that I never included the other two bridge bunnies. Uh. I'm going to just say that they're dead. They died when. . .uh. . .fuck it. They're dead.

Any bets on who's going to be left standing at the end of all this? I'm not even sure yet. I was debating on whether to kill Misato all the way up until I wrote this. Now that she's dead all bets are off.

On a personal note. Detcord is fun. With enough detcord you can do just about anything and using it on propane tanks is an approved Marine Corps improvised method for clearing out houses. Improvised (i.e. pulled out of ass) ideas are a Marine Corps specialty. Especially ideas of how to navigate an obstacle when explosives are handy. I remember a specific conversation that went something like this:

-SSgt: Alright, let's say that this is a locked door. How can we get in? Hands? every hand goes up You.

-Cpl: We could loop detcord around the knob and blow it open.

-SSgt nods: Good. You.

-LCpl: We could use a little C4 to blow the door open.

-SSGT: Alright. You.

-Another LCpl: We could make big loops of detcord and duct tape them to the wall as a breaching charge.

-Yet another LCpl: We could get an Abrams to shoot it!

-SSgt: What happens if someone's inside and we need to get in without hurting them?

-Entire Platoon: Dead Silent as all hands go down

-SSgt: Come on now! Somebody's got to have an idea!

-PFC: We. . .we could shoot. . .no, that wouldn't be good.

-SSgt pinches bridge of nose: I guess we know who to send in, in a hostage situation.

-Entire Platoon: The Marines!

-SSgt: Fuck you! If I was a hostage, I'd rather stay that way and be alive rather than be a friendly-fired corpse.

To be fare, we were getting this class after a long day of being bored and not being able to sleep. Is it any wonder everyone just wanted to cause mayhem? And this is also why you never leave Marines alone without supervision for too long. First it starts with plans and talking and then something happens. As a Marine officer once said: Leave two Marines in a padded room with a rock and wait two hours. When you come back, the rock will be broken and no one will know what happened. Or as an old Army officer said: Leave two infantrymen out in the desert with their rifles, a spade, and a rock. When you come back the rock will be broken, the spade dull, and all ammo expended because infantrymen just gotta fuck with shit.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Eight:

Mana stared blearily at the sign welcoming her to Tokyo-3. "There's the easy part." She knew enough to know that there was no way she would be able to find Shinji by herself. He was a Spec Ops soldier run to ground. She had no choice, but to seek help. It was time to hit up the Tokyo-3 PD.

(:ii:)

"He wasn't looking too good last night." Takahashi finished prepping the demo charge in his hand and glanced over at his former commanding officer.

"Yeah," Minekura replied. "I don't think he's sleeping at all either. He's got the look again. He's wants to cause some serious death and destruction."

"I've kept in touch with a couple of the old guys," Takahashi commented. "Do you think we should call them?"

"Call who?" Takahashi turned and stared at the man who stood at the head of their work table. He hadn't even heard him coming, yet again.

"That's really annoying."

"Why do you think I do it?" Shinji asked as he brushed a hand over his freshly shorn head and exhaled a cloud of smoke through his nostrils. Takahashi grinned brightly.

"Good to see you're back with us Sergeant."

"Hm," Shinji grunted as he reached across the table and carefully pulled all the grenades out of Takahashi's reach.

"You're not still sore about that, are you?"

"You took my fingers," Shinji growled as he held up his left hand.

"Not even an entire finger," Takahashi protested sheepishly. Shinji glared at him. "It was my first time. I was nervous."

"You were the one who took the Sergeant's fingers?" Minekura asked.

"He was the pit NCO on the grenade range when I qualified," Takahashi explained. "We've got everything you asked for and a little more."

"Good," Shinji replied. He produced a folded paper from his pocket and laid it out.

"What's this?"

"This is the area of operations," Shinji replied as he looked over the map. Takahashi frowned and moved to stared at it over the shorter man's shoulder.

"This is a big job Sergeant. We're going to need more men."

"Only I have to get in," Shinji replied. He touched a finger to the paper. "These are the external power conduits. You set charges along these. I'll already be in and have planted a few other charges in choice locations. I can use the temporary power outage and the other detonations to get to the backup generators before they kick in. I take them out and then the game is mine."

"What is the game?" Minekura asked.

"I'm going to kill the top kicks," Shinji stated, "and anyone who gets in my way."

"Any particular reason?" Minekura added.

"General principle," Shinji replied.

"What about collateral?" Minekura pressed. "What are we looking at in terms of innocents?"

"None," Shinji stated.

"None hurt or none present?"

"You're still asking too many questions," Takahashi stated. "It's not hard to figure out you were an officer."

"There will be no innocents present," Shinji stated. "Everyone is a target. How long are we going to be in prep time?"

"Three days," Takahashi answered, "but now that the bomb making machine has arrived, day and a half." Shinji nodded and wandered over to a large box to begin inventorying its contents.

"Tak?" Takahashi frowned and glanced at Minekura.

"What?" he hissed back.

"What was Ikari in the nuthouse for?" Takahashi sighed. Minekura was a good guy, but he was still an officer. They all thought too much and asked too many questions. Sometimes, you just had to shut up and go with the plan.

"He's not crazy," Takahashi stated. "He's Sergeant First Class Ikari and I trust him with my life."

(:ii:)

"Boss?" Asuka looked up from the paperwork on her desk and stared at the uncharacteristically calm blond in her doorway.

"What is it?"

"There's a woman asking questions at the police department. . ."

"What do I care?" Asuka interrupted sharply.

". . .about Ikari," Jenny finished. Asuka froze for just a second.

"Well, send her here!"

"I've already taken care of it," Jenny replied. "Section-2 is bringing here in right now." Asuka scowled. If she knew Touji, he would definitely put their mystery guest through the ringer.

"God damn it. Get a hold of Suzuhara and tell him I want her here!" she ordered. "That fucker still works for me."

"Of course ma'am."

(:ii:)

"What the hell is going on?" Mana demanded as she was led through a bewildering maze of hallways.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss anything ma'am," the dark-suited man stated. A door ahead of them opened and a young blond stepped out into the hallway. She caught sight of Mana and her posse and grinned.

"I'll take it from here."

"We have orders. . ."

"I have orders from the commander, herself," the blond interrupted.

"Just step out of our way," the first dark-suited man stated.

"She has orders from the commander," a new voice stated. Mana turned and saw a blue-haired woman in a dark suit. She pushed her way easily through the group of similarly-dressed men and took Mana by the elbow.

"See here. . ." The blue-haired woman turned sharply and the man staggered back as if he had been struck. He stumbled against the wall and sank to the floor under the woman's crimson gaze. She turned away and led Mana to the blond.

"Thanks Miss Ayanami."

"This is not the time to be bickering amongst ourselves," the blue-haired woman, Ayanami, stated. "We must get her to the commander as ordered."

"This is all well and good," Mana cut in, "but someone is going to start explaining what the fuck is going on right now." Doing volunteer work as a psychiatrist at a veterans hospital wasn't for the weak of heat, or weak of threatening vocabulary. "Get talking or I am going to do something loud, violent, and all over the place." The blond looked surprised, but Ayanami didn't even blink.

"I'm Jenny," the blond stated. "This is Rei Ayanami. We work for Gemüt. Our boss is a close friend of Shinji's. We're taking you to see her so you can help us find him." Mana took a deep breath. Finally, some answers.

"Okay. How did you know I was looking for Shinji?"

"We have people in the police," Jenny commented offhandedly. "Follow me please." She turned and began walking. Mana quickly paced her with Rei bringing up the rear.

"Who were those guys?"

"Section-2," Jenny stated. "They're kind of an internal security. Anymore, they're just a brute squad. No offence, Miss Ayanami."

"None taken," Rei replied.

"What is Gemüt?"

"It's a top-secret UN sponsored research group," Jenny replied. She flashed a bright grin at Mana. "You can keep a secret, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. We'd have to kill you if you couldn't." Mana froze dead in her steps, her hand twitching towards the knife she had slipped up her sleeve. Jenny began laughing. "I'm just kidding!"

"Do not joke about such matters," Rei ordered. "Our lack of an ability to correct misconceptions leads to enough trouble with the public."

"Sorry Miss Ayanami."

(:ii:)

Asuka's office door banged open and the redhead looked up as Jenny and Rei led another woman into the room. "Did you have any trouble?"

"Marginal, Commander," Rei reported. Asuka scowled. Section-2 was getting more and more out of line.

"Wonderful," she ground out. She turned to the stranger and put on her best smile. "Hi. Mana Kirishima, right?"

"I know who I am," the green-eyed woman growled. "Now who the hell are you and what the fuck is going on?" Asuka was taken aback by the woman's tone, but smiled anyway.

"I'm Asuka Sohryu," Asuka stated. "Why were you asking about Shinji Ikari?"

"I'm his girlfriend." Asuka's jaw closed with an audible click and she could almost swear that she saw Rei's jaw clench very slightly.

"Oh!" Jenny exclaimed. "You're his girlfriend." Asuka wheeled about on her secretary.

"You knew he had a girlfriend?"

"He said he was in a relationship at the ball," Jenny replied. Asuka sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She turned back to Mana and considered her carefully.

"Yesterday Shinji freaked out and attacked one of my agents," Asuka stated.

"What was your agent doing to him?" Mana demanded.

"I was doing nothing," Rei stated. Mana spun and stared at her.

"If Shinji had attacked you, you'd be down flat," she shot back.

"He fractured my jaw," Rei stated. Asuka slapped her forehead and Mana's eyebrow rose. "I heal fast."

"Yeah right,'

"No, it's been documented," Asuka replied. "Don't ask why, it's classified, but she really can heal almost instantaneously." Mana continued to stare at them suspiciously. "Look, Rei and I have known Shinji for a long time and we're both worried about him."

"I don't think he's ever mentioned either of you," Mana stated flatly. Asuka frowned. That was a tad harsh.

"One second." She quickly circled her desk and began digging through her drawers. After quite a search she managed to find the group photo from Misato's promotion party. "Here. That's me and that's Shinji." Mana stared down at the picture for what felt like a long time.

"I've never seen a picture of him when he was young before," she stated after the pause. "He looks so sad."

"Have a seat," Asuka replied. Mana sat down heavily. "Do you know what could have set him off?"

"Yes," she replied quietly.

"Does it have something to do with his stay in a mental institution," Asuka pressed carefully.

"I think so," Mana stated. "How much do you know about his stay?"

"Nothing beyond that he was there," Asuka replied. Did Touji know? She was beginning to think that he definitely did.

"He was in the middle of a mission," Mana stated. "He did something, something real bad. He only told his doctor what it was. On the flight back he just freaked out. He became violent and his team had to subdue him. Someone had him discharged and then committed. He was in there for two years before they deemed him stable enough for release and even then he was heavily medicated. He forgot that medicine when he came here. That and the stress caused by his friend's disappearance almost certainly caused his regression."

"And that's why you think he just attacked Rei?" Asuka asked.

"Yes," Mana stated. "I've been talking to him since he came here. I could tell he was starting to go off, but I never thought it would come to this. I just thought that his friend would turn up and all his questions would get nice, neat answers."

"She hasn't yet," Asuka replied. "Are you still in contact with him?"

"If he's still answering my phone calls," Mana answered. "Why?"

"What if I told you he might not be crazy?" Asuka asked, a plan forming in the back of her mind. She saw Rei's brow furrow.

"What do you mean?" Mana demanded. "You mean this Misato person might have actually been kidnapped?"

"Yes," Asuka stated. "And I'm pretty sure I know who did it."

(:ii:)

"You are a bomb making machine."

"Yes I am," Shinji replied. He finished taping the last of his demo charges.

"What's with the tape?"

"Different color, different detonation frequency," Shinji replied. He stared down at the tiny charge. "Are these things really any good?"

"Yes!" Takahashi exclaimed. "For the last time Sergeant, you've been out of the loop for a while and I'd hate to tell you, but the world of blowing shit up did advance without you." Shinji weighed the charge carefully.

"This weighs less than a quarter of a pound," he stated. "What's in it?"

"It's uh. . .it's. . .how the hell should I know?" Takahashi demanded.

"You bought the damn things!"

"Look, they blow up big. What more do you want?"

"To walk away from this with all my appendages," Shinji shot back as he absently dug his phone out of his pocket. He glanced at the screen and cursed.

"What?"

"Mana."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"I don't like the surprise in your voice," Shinji growled as he flipped his phone open. "Hello."

"Shinji?" Shinji froze. He hadn't been expecting this.

"Asuka?"

"We need to talk," Asuka stated.

"Put Mana on now," Shinji ordered. He heard the phone change hands.

"Shinji."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mana stated. "You really need to talk to Asuka."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in the Geo-Front," Mana stated. "I came here after I talked to you last. I've been speaking with Asuka and Rei."

"Rei's speaking?" Shinji asked despite himself. He could have sworn that he had broken her jaw.

"She said she heals fast."

"Oh. Real fast, eh?"

"Yeah," Mana replied. "Now you're going to talk to Asuka and you're going to listen to what she has to say."

"Do you have a gun?"

"What?"

"Do you have a gun?" Shinji repeated.

"No."

"Get something," Shinji ordered. "Put Asuka on."

(:ii:)

"You've been causing a lot of trouble Shinji."

"You have no idea," Shinji replied. Asuka frowned at his confident tone. "And don't even get me started on what's to come."

"Yeah, about that part," Asuka began, "I think you've got the wrong idea."

"Alright, shoot."

"This isn't the kind of thing you talk about on the phone."

"And if I don't meet you, you're going to kill Mana, right?"

"You've seen too many bad movies, Shinji," Asuka stated.

"Sure," Shinji replied. "I name the time and place and you bring only Mana."

"What about Rei?" Asuka asked. She might end up needing someone to watch her back and, as much as it pained her to admit it, Rei was definitely the best choice.

"Absolutely not," Shinji replied. "I know I broke her jaw. Something funny is going down there." Asuka glanced up at Rei.

"You have no idea. Where did you have in mind?"

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Yeah, this one's a lot of talking, but you got a lot of action in the last one. Also, I know this is late, but will you be my valentine, Jack Daniels?

And now for a funny story from drill weekend. This month we were at Fort Indian Town Gap. Yeah. It was fucking freezing. Anyway, after a long day of tramping around in a snow storm and setting up a HERS we got to actually sleep in nice warm barracks. . .for once. Anyway, about half an hour before we have to wake up an alarm goes off. Now this is not your everyday alarm. You know the alarm that goes off in movies when DEFCOM 4 is announced? Yeah, it was that sound. Everybody wakes up and looks around drowsily. The conversation went something like this.

-Are we under attack?

-Are the Indians coming back up the mountain?

-Who declared war?

-Is that a fire alarm?

Then our platoon sergeant staggers out of the room he claimed and looks around.

-Who's alarm is that?

Our psycho motivated third squad leader owns up to it and the Sergeant just stares at him.

-We thought it was a fire.

-Yeah.

The sergeant stares at us.

-Than why the hell are you all still in your racks?

As it turns out, there are just some things that can't get a Marine out of his rack. Fire apparently falls into the category. Oh well. If it had been a fire, at least we would have been warm.


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Nine:

Shinji looked around the deserted industrial park and frowned. He was feeling exposed. "We've got your back Sergeant," Takahashi reminded as if he could sense Shinji's thoughts.

"Copy," he replied simply.

"And a few more friends just showed up." Shinji frowned at that.

"Who?" he demanded. There was no way to know who could be trusted.

"Do you remember that sniper team that backed us up in Panama?" Takahashi asked. Shinji thought back to the far ago and even further away operation that had secretly raged throughout the Central American Canal Zone. There had only been one sniper team he could recall and they hadn't been JSSDF. Hell, they hadn't been military period.

"The mercs?"

"Contractors," a bored voice corrected in drawn-out Spanish. "A little respect for the men who saved your ass, Sergeant?"

"Smith?"

"Yeah," the sniper replied. "The UN killed our company, so we've gone freelance. Tak offered the scratch, so here we are." Shinji's frown deepened. He didn't like how that was worded. No matter how successful Takahashi was, there was no way that he could out-bid Gemüt. What would happen if Asuka started throwing cash around?

"Come on Sergeant," a new voice cut in. "I can read your expression. We're loyal to who pays first. We aren't going to switch sides like that. It gets hard to find work when all the employers don't trust you."

"Get your God-damned rifle off of me, Ahmed," Shinji hissed.

"Sorry," Ahmed stated. "Vehicle coming through the southern entrance. Red coup with two passengers. Windows are too heavily tinted, but the car's so small that if there was a third they'd be in the trunk."

"I see them," Minekura stated. Shinji leaned back as casually as he could and waited. There was little else he could do.

(:ii:)

"We're being watched."

"What?"

"We're being watched," Mana repeated. She looked around the tall buildings as they whipped past. "There's someone out here."

"I guess that being in the military will do that to you," Asuka commented.

"I never left the office when I was in the army," Mana replied. "I only started getting these feelings when I became a cop." Asuka laughed at that and her coup slowed down. "There he is." Mana stared at the man through the windshield.

"Oh my God." Even at this distance, Mana could tell that the man waiting for them was as far from her Shinji as possible. If anything, he looked like a cat, coiled and ready to pounce. The coup stopped and Mana quickly climbed out. "Shinji!"

"Mana," Shinji replied curtly, his eyes fixed on Asuka. Mana started forward and froze when she saw Shinji tense.

"I. . .I like the new look," she stammered. "It's very. . .uh. . .military."

"I know," Shinji rasped. As Mana watched, he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his coat and lit one. "What's this about Asuka? Tell me now and make it good, or I'm going to finish what I came here to do."

"For a long time I've suspected that Suzuhara has been operating outside of my control," Asuka stated flatly. "As you know, Gemüt isn't entirely ethical, but he's gone overboard."

"So you're telling me that you have no responsibility for what he's done?" Shinji asked.

"Of course I'm responsible," Asuka growled. "Make no mistake, I am in charge here. What I'm saying is that I've had Suzuhara under investigation for a long time. My team just revealed their findings and. . .well, let's just say I don't like what they found."

"What are you going to do about it?" Shinji demanded.

"I can't do anything at the moment," Asuka answered. "Gemüt is far above local and national law. Even Interpol has no jurisdiction over us because we don't really exist."

"There must be someone who can do something," Shinji stated.

"There is of course," Asuka replied. "Gemüt is but a small part of something larger. Of course, taking this all the way up there would be a long and messy affair. That's where you come in."

"You want me to do your dirty work?" Shinji asked in a disbelieving tone. He took off his sunglasses and Mana bit back a gasp. There were dark bags under his eyes and crow's feet starting to form. He looked years older than before.

"As you know, I control the media and, through Suzuhara, the police," Asuka stated confidently. "With Suzuhara dead, it wouldn't be any trouble to give you a clean get away."

"You can't honestly be thinking about this!" Mana exploded. "Who cares about speed? Let whoever is in charge handle this."

"Why me?" Shinji asked.

"You're cheaper than a hit man and you've got a personal stake in this," Asuka stated. "I can trust you not to screw the pooch. Mana has my number. Give me a call with your decision." Mana watched as the woman climbed into her car and sped off without another word. She rounded back on Shinji, considering her next action very carefully. She started forward again and noticed, to her relief, that he didn't tense up this time. She carefully wrapped her arms around him and frowned. He didn't even feel the same.

"I was scared shitless," she whispered.

"Sorry. Break it down. We're gone." Mana frowned and looked up. She spotted the tiny transceiver in his ear and immediately stepped away from him. Shinji's head cocked to the side as he listened to the man at the other end of the line. "Yeah. She's coming with us." He paused for a moment. "You have no idea." Mana didn't need to ask to know that the man had just asked if she would be trouble.

(:ii:)

"Are we doing it?" Shinji leaned back in his seat and lit another cigarette.

"Yeah," he stated after a moment. "It'll be a start. Give the redhead the impression that we're working for her."

"So you think she's lying too?" Takahashi asked.

"Oh yeah. Never trust a politician."

"What makes you think she's lying?" Mana demanded from the backseat.

"Animal instincts," Minekura cut in. "They're all they've got." Shinji flashed the man a sharp grin. "I'll admit that this is convenient, but I don't think she was lying. There was no indication that she was."

"That's just it," Shinji stated. "Her kind is always lying. There is always something up their sleeve. When they look like there isn't, that's when you need to worry."

"Seems like damned if she does and damned if you doesn't," Mana commented. The car stopped and Shinji climbed out. "So this is where you've been hiding."

"Not the worst place I've ever had to stay in," Shinji replied.

"Barcelona?" Takahashi ventured.

"Barcelona," Shinji said with a nod.

"Barcelona," Minekura agreed with a shudder. "And it used to be such a nice place." Shinji shrugged off the heavy coat he had been wearing and tugged out the pistol he had tucked into his belt.

"All the shit we have, and you don't have a concealable holster," he growled.

"You and concealable don't go together," Minekura commented. Shinji pushed the heavy door open and found himself pointing his weapon at Ahmed.

"Oh good," the Arab stated with a grin. "We were worried that being a civilin had dulled you."

"Instead you're sharper than ever," Smith added. Shinji lowered his USP and took a deep breath. "What's the plan Sergeant?"

"Two targets," Shinji stated. "We're keeping silent until we're fully ready."

"Who's first?" Smith pressed.

"Suzuhara," Shinji replied. "The chief of the secret police in this town."

"We can take care of it," Ahmed stated, running a hand appreciatively over the massive fifty-caliber rifle at his feet. "This was part of our payment and I want to give it a try."

"No," Shinji replied. "This is my show and he is mine. I don't want this to be quick and easy. He will scream."

"Shinji. . ." Mana began.

"I don't want to hear," Shinji stated sharply. He turned to the two mercenaries. "I need you two to run recon for me. Tak's got a picture of Suzuhara. Find him, watch him, take note out his routes, but I'll kill you if he dies. Copy?"

"Copy that Sergeant," Ahmed replied. "Been a while since we composed a file on someone. Let's see if we still got the touch."

"Got the picture here," Takahashi stated as he handed a thick folder to Ahmed.

"I've got. . .I've got a few more toys to wire up," Shinji stated. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. It felt like he hadn't slept in too long.

(:ii:)

Mana watched as Shinji staggered up a set of stairs and disappeared into another part of the warehouse. "Go after him," one of the men whispered. She nodded and quickly followed after her roommate.

"Shinji?"

"What?" Mana quickly followed his voice and found him sitting in a corner staring at a picture.

"Insomnia is another side effect," she commented as she fished a bottle of pills out of her pocket. "Thought you could use these." Shinji caught the bottle without even bothering to look up. He glanced up at her and tossed it back.

"I don't need them." Mana had been expecting that.

"You were right," she stated peaceable, "something was wrong in this city, but you are suffering from the side effects."

"The only side effect I've seen is the insomnia," Shinji stated flatly. "Everything else is just me."

"This isn't you, Shinji," Mana protested. "Come on, we both know it isn't." Shinji stared at her silently.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked finally.

"I don't know, maybe it's the fact that we've been living together for a few years," Mana answered sarcastically.

"You've only ever known me for those few years," Shinji stated. "All you've ever known is a drugged-out zombie. That isn't me. This is who I really am." Mana stared at him. She had never even considered that. "I am a highly-trained, professional killer with a yen for explosives. I have fought wars across this planet and on every continent. I have killed and destroyed anyone and anything in my way. I have led kids into battle and brought them out dead, alive or somewhere in between. What you see before you is what years of experience have made me into. Now tell me, how do you know who I am?" Mana had no way of responding to that intelligently, so she went for the unintelligent response.

"I wish you had never come here. I hate what this city did to you."

"I'm none too happy about it myself," Shinji replied, "but it's just best to roll with the shit life throws at you. You should probably leave the city soon. Things are going to become pretty nasty soon."

"Why do you think that?" Mana asked.

"Because I'm going to make it nasty," Shinji replied. Mana suddenly had an unshakable premonition that if she left, she would never see Shinji again.

"I'm staying." Shinji stared at her contemplatively.

"You don't have to stay on my behalf," he stated. "As I've said, I'm not the man you knew. I'd understand if you left."

"I'm staying," Mana repeated. "I want to be with you, Shinji. I don't care if you don't believe it, but you're still you." Shinji's lips curled.

"We'll see what you think when you see what I've done to Gemüt."

(:ii:)

"This is dangerous Commander." Asuka glanced at Rei out of the corner of her eye and finished signing a few more forms. "Ikari is not to be taken lightly. If you wish for Captain Suzuhara's demise, you should use the contractors we have previously hired."

"Problem," Asuka stated, "he hired those contractors. They know him."

"Than use another company," Rei pressed. "Ikari is an unknown. He could be, and most likely is, as dangerous to you as he is to the Captain."

"We'll be prepared for him," Asuka stated.

"I doubt you could be that prepared," Rei commented. "I have matters to attend to." She pushed the office door open and stepped out into the hall beyond. She made her way through the Geo-Front towards her office. Once the door was securely bolted she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number from memory.

"Report."

"Commander Sohryu plans to use Ikari to eliminate Captain Suzuhara," Rei stated. "Her plan is flawed. She believes that Ikari will be easily contained and controlled."

"You feel otherwise?"

"I do," Rei stated. "He is highly unpredictable and that makes him dangerous. Should I act?"

"No. This will be a test of Sohryu's mettle. If she cannot stand against a small band of highly trained adversaries, then perhaps we misplaced our trust in her. Do you understand?"

"I understand Chairman Keele."

(:ii:)

Takahashi glanced up as he heard footsteps on the stairs. Shinji was already at the bottom, it was his lady friend who had made the noise. "What's up Sergeant?"

"We might need some specialized equipment," Shinji stated. "This will be a snatch and run. We might need to take out a caravan."

"Hitting a moving target is a bitch," Takahashi commented. He spared a glance at Mana, "no offense ma'am."

"None taken," Mana stated.

"That's Mana," Shinji added as he sat down with a notepad and a pen. "Mana, that's Takahashi. He served with me for a while. The other guy is Captain Minekura. He's another old war buddy."

"Nice to meet you," Takahashi stated as he took the seat next to Shinji. "Why can't we take him at work or at home?"

"They're both too heavily guarded," Shinji stated. Mana sat down across from them.

"Why not just take him out in transit?" she asked. They both stared at her. "What?"

"Good question," Takahashi stated. "Well, Sergeant?"

"I don't want this to be clean and quick," he stated. "This is personal."

"Alright then," Takahashi agreed. "This guy is some kind of big boss, right? We're probably looking at a convoy with decoy vehicles, armored gun trucks, and possible air support. We're going to need some serious toys. What do you think?"

"Some kind of weapon to take out the first two vehicles to begin with," Shinji answered.

"I have a few American Spider Mark Five landmines," Takahashi stated. "They're expensive as hell, but they are great for vehicles. Well also need to take out the last vehicle at least. What do you think?"

"Go simple and go big. Russian RPG-7s with PG-7VR grenades." He quickly sketched a road with buildings on either side. "We can place the Spider here to take out the lead. That will give us a rough estimate of where the trail vehicle will be. We'll put a sniper up top with the RPG."

"Why not two snipers?" Takahashi suggested. "I've got one of those automatic shotguns and I can get a few drums of FRAG-12 shells to take out any soldiers who deploy, but what about the air support?"

"More than likely it'll be a powered-lift craft with rockets or a minigun," Shinji replied. "How about an Igla? I always thought they worked better than Stingers."

"I like it," Takahashi replied. Shinji updated his sketch. "The Spider and FRAG shells will hurt us because they're not too widespread outside the US, but any hack wannabe-lord-of-war can get the other stuff."

"Explains why you have it," Shinji commented dryly. "We'll iron out the details when the mercs finish their report."

"That's a great plan, from what I understood at least," Mana commented. "What's a spider?"

"It's an intelligent landmine that can kill just about anything but a tank," Shinji replied, "and an Igla is a Russian surface to air missile. FRAG-12s are 12-gauge shells that launch a grenade about the size of the tip of my thumb."

"Oh. Cool, but what about civilians?" Shinji and Takahashi stared at her again.

"We'll make every effort to keep people from being hurt, but it's always a possibility," Shinji stated after a moment. Mana nodded her understanding and made her way back up the stairs.

"Minekura isn't going to like having such a blatant attack in a crowded civilian city," Takahashi commented.

"We'll have to keep him slightly out of the loop."

"He's an officer. He'll get over it." Shinji nodded. "We're going to have to count on the mercs for this one. Are you up for that?"

"Don't know yet. We'll see."

"You're planning to really fuck up this Suzuhara guy, aren't you?"

"You have no idea."

"I'm going to need a pressure washer, right?"

"Probably."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Yowza. Five reviews on that last one? Maybe you guys spoiled me, but that seems kind of harsh. And after that response you get another chatty chapter. Had to be done. The next one will be pretty much all action.

Now for an amusing story. This will be extremely short because it's just the kind of thing that is funnier with less said. And before you judge me, I'm a sucker for a cute face. If you happen to live in Delaware and go to Happy Harry's this weekend, watch out! That Easter Bunny might just be an extremely pissed off Marine who got suckered into that job. That's right folks, it's the Cynical Bunny, or Cyn-bun. Get it? Cyn-bun. . .cinnabun. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! God I hate kids. Damn you Mary-Kate! And your little cat too!


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Ten

"Here's what we've got Sergeant." Shinji looked over Ahmed's notes and grinned.

"You guys still got it."

"You're damn right we do," Smith replied. "This mother fucker takes the same route in the same vehicle every day. Apparently, he thinks this god damned armored convoy he brings with him will protect him."

"Either that or he's a God damned fool," Ahmed added. "I'd swing more towards cocky, though." Shinji nodded absently, staring down at the detailed log of Touji's activities for the past week. Every day he took the same route in the same vehicle with the same escort. This wasn't cockiness, it was complacency and complacency killed. There were too many security measures in place for Touji to be just stupid or cocky. No, he had just allowed himself to relax and believe that nothing would happen.

"We're going to have to take out the lead and trail gun truck almost instantaneously," Shinji commented mostly to himself. "The second from the front and second from the last are decoys filled with Section-2's best. We take them with the RPG and put a round through Touji's engine block."

"No RPG for Touji?" Takahashi asked.

"No RPG for Touji," Shinji replied. "I have different plans for him and they require him intact, mostly, at least in the beginning."

"Is that the plan?" Minekura asked, interrupting Shinji's train of thought.

"For now," he stated. "Do you know what kind of armor these things use?"

"Fairly light judging by how high they ride on their shocks," Ahmed stated. "Of course, modern composite armor is pretty damned light." Shinji nodded in agreement and traced his finger along the map of Tokyo-3 they had picked up. "Those RPGs, the tandem-warhead ones, won't have any trouble and I have a couple of old combined effects Raufoss rounds for my .50-cal that we can use to freeze Suzuhara's truck."

"Good," Shinji grunted. He leaned back in his seat. "Alright, here's the plan until something happens and everything goes wrong."

(:ii:)

"Don't you think you're rushing this?" Minekura watched as his former subordinate lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Mana had warned him of Shinji's trouble sleeping and he could easily spot the signs of some serious fatigue.

"No point waiting," Shinji stated. "Every day we wait is another chance for him to change up his routine."

"We should practice the attack more," Minekura stated.

"We know what to do and how to do it," Shinji countered. He eyed Minekura thoughtfully. "Been talking to Mana?"

"She's raised a few valid points," Minekura replied. "You aren't sleeping."

"You know I never slept that well," Shinji commented. He turned to face the man more fully. "Come on sir, it's me."

"I know it's you," Minekura growled, "but this is your op. If someone dies because you aren't running on all cylinders, it's on you."

"I know that!" Shinji snapped. "You make it sound like this is the first time I've ever run an operation. I'm a sergeant. It's my job to run shit and your job to take credit!" Minekura studied the dark-haired man closely. There were deep bags under his eyes, but his hands were steady as they clutched his cigarette. Minekura frowned at that. Shinji had always smoked, but this was getting ridiculous.

"I deserved that," he replied. "So, are you going for a record, or just trying to keep the tobacco industry running all by yourself?"

"I've got a lot of lost time to make up," Shinji replied, using his cigarette to light another.

"Mana thinks it has something to do with the side effects," Minekura commented. Shinji stared at him blankly.

"I've always smoked," he replied.

"Not this much." Shinji stared at him for what seemed like a long time.

"Fine. You see any flaws in my judgment, feel free to step in and take over."

"I don't want it to come to that."

"Than don't."

(:ii:)

Shinji charged his machinegun and dropped to a knee, confident that the alleyway's deep shadows had him hidden from Tokyo-3's sparse daytime foot traffic. "All call signs report."

"One ready," Ahmed stated from his rooftop perch across the street.

"Two ready," Smith added from his position on top of the building Shinji was leaning against.

"Three ready," Takahashi drawled from next to Shinji.

"Four ready," Minekura finalized from where he waiting in the team's extraction vehicle. Shinji nodded more to himself. Everybody was in place and waiting.

"What a weird fucking town, man," Takahashi grumbled. "Where the hell is everybody?"

"Company town," Shinji stated. "Almost everybody works for either Gemüt or supporting companies. We're mid-shift on a weekday. This is good."

"Weird."

"I have the convoy in sight," Ahmed reported. "They are just making the turn onto Crescent." Crescent was the ambush sight. Their turn onto it meant that they were only a few minutes away. "There are no other vehicles in sight and only light."

"Arm the Spider," Shinji ordered.

"Copy that," Takahashi said as he thumbed the Spider's release. Across the street, under a simple cheap disguise of cardboard and duct tape, the landmine started up and began scanning the road with its infrared tripwires. "It's ready to rock."

"Good."

"All call signs, ETA is two minutes," Ahmed warned. Shinji rolled his shoulders against his heavy bullet-proof vest and frowned as he noticed the fingers of his right hand trembling. He quickly grabbed his machinegun's pistol grip.

"You alright?" Takahashi asked.

"I'd kill for a cigarette," Shinji replied.

(:ii:)

Touji stared out the window as Tokyo-3 blew by. This was growing very troublesome. Sohryu was a liability. She had been from the start, but now he knew enough to justify her demise before the foundation. "Something wrong sir?" Shiomi asked.

"No," Touji replied. Section-2 was loyal to him and without them, Asuka had no armed force to fall back on.

"Alright then." Shiomi leaned back in his seat and fiddled with the compact assault rifle he held absently against his chest. He was a good man, had been with Section-2 since Touji had become its leader. When the time came, Touji knew what side he would be on. That was when the whole world exploded into a cacophony of light and sound.

(:ii:)

Shinji ducked down as Ahmed began to count down the seconds. He didn't need to watch as the first vehicle tripped the Spider's sensors, quickly followed by the second SUV. The Spider fired up in a heart beat and two dull bangs rang out as its pivoting launch tube fired two smart sub-munitions high into the sky.

The twin flying shaped charges, already fed the necessary information by the Spider, locked onto their intended targets and exploded. The two vehicles didn't stand a chance as the deadly molten copper spears tore them apart as they swerved to a stop, blocking the rest of the vehicles.

The trailing vehicles slammed on their brakes and their drivers hesitated, shocked by this unknown turn of events. It was that hesitation that cost them everything as Smith loosened his RPG into the last vehicle, the tandem warhead tear the SUV apart and leaving it a burning hulk.

Ahmed opened up, his .50-cal's single shot ringing out as its payload screeched towards its target. The Raufoss round's armor-piercing core tore through the SUV's hood easily and burrowed its way into the engine block as the round's incendiary component ignited and fused most of the engine's moving parts together. By the time that had happened, Smith had reloaded and taken out the second decoy. Ahmed shoved his rifle away and snatched up the AA-12 automatic shotgun. He brought it around and opened up. The string of FRAG-12 shells slammed into the SUV's armored top and exploded doing no damage, but filling the cabin with deafening noise. "Move!"

"Moving to extract," Minekura replied.

"Moving on target!" Shinji snapped as Takahashi squeezed his shoulder and they both sprinted out onto the road. They sprinted towards Touji's mostly unharmed SUV as Ahmed ceased fire and Takahashi brought his shotgun around on the rear passenger door's latch. The slug of compressed metal powder tore the latch apart before dissolving back to powder. He fired another for good measure and Shinji ripped the door open. He grabbed the first man, a dazed bodyguard with an assault rifle and threw him to the ground for Takahashi to finish off.

At that time Minekura's massive SUV shoved the trail gun truck and decoy out of the way and screeched to a halt before them. Shinji grabbed Touji and forced the man into the other SUV before climbing on top of him. Takahashi climbed in too and slammed the door. "Go!" Minekura gunned the engine and Shinji glanced at his watch. Less than three minutes had passed since the Spider fired.

"Chopper coming around," Smith commented, "must have been in the area. It's not Gemüt or police, looks civilian, probably news." Shinji frowned. Even a news chopper could follow them and cause all kinds of headaches.

"Bring it down."

"Copy." Behind them another RPG slammed into Touji's SUV and took care of its driver and remaining bodyguard.

(:ii:)

Asuka stared at the carnage being reported on her TV in shock. She had not been planning for this. Originally she was going to officially acknowledge Shinji's attack as a Gemüt counter-terrorism operation, but she couldn't take credit for this! Six people had been slightly injured in the initial attack, but then twelve people had been killed when a news helicopter had been shot down and crashed into a building. "What are we going to do boss?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know," Asuka replied, too shocked to admit anything, but the truth.

"We can't take credit for this," Jenny stated, voicing Asuka's thoughts.

"I know that," the redhead stated. How could Shinji do that?

"He's too dangerous," Jenny whispered. "We have to take him out." There it was, Asuka's only option. She had prayed that it wouldn't come to this. They needed to find Shinji and kill him. There would be investigations. There was no way to hush this up. Civilians were dead. There was a saying about the people of the world. They were sheep and sheep only had two speeds, graze and stampede.

Asuka could almost feel the earth shake as the flock began to shift.

(:ii:)

Shinji leaned back against the wall and lit his cigarette. "Hey Touji."

"Hey," the man rasped through cracked and swollen lips. It was the first time they had actually managed to talk.

"Got to tell you, I was really worried back there," Shinji commented. "We weren't sure how well armored your vehicle was and we couldn't think of any other way to cause chaos inside other than the explosives."

"Huh," Touji grunted.

"You know what I'm going to do, right?" Shinji asked.

"You think this is all my doing, don't you?" Touji sneered. He was trying to cover up his fear. Shinji thought he was doing an admirable job.

"No," he returned, "but I do want to know just how deeply Asuka is connected."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because Asuka set you up," Shinji stated. "Just keep reminding yourself that this is all her fault." Touji's scowled deepened.

"She's the one who got you to do all this?"

"Yeah. I would have done it anyway, but she did ask."

"She's knows everything that is happening because she orders it," Touji stated.

"Who's pulling her strings?"

"SEELE," Touji stated. "They want to start another Impact."

"Another one?" Shinji demanded, suddenly not quite as calm.

"It wouldn't be their first," Touji replied, smirking because he had gotten Shinji's goat. "Second Impact was their doing, but they didn't know exactly what to do. That attempt was a fuck up. This one will complete their goals."

"What are their goals?" Shinji asked.

"They want to unite all of humankind."

"How?"

"This I don't know," Touji replied. "I do know that however they plan to do it, Asuka wants to do it differently. Her end goals are somehow different."

"Sure you don't know?" Shinji asked as he used his mostly-finished cigarette to light another. "If you do, I'll go a little easier on you and by that I mean I'll leave your tongue in one piece for a little longer."

"I don't know."

"Alright then." Shinji took a drag on his new cigarette. He took the glowing butt of his first and pushed it into the flesh of Touji's face right below his eye. "Let's begin then."

(:ii:)

Mana shivered as another scream tore the air. Takahashi and the two mercenaries carried on, completely oblivious as they drank and told old war stories. Even Minekura, a man Mana had thought was on her side, was simply drinking and smoking silently. "Minekura?"

"Yes?"

"Can I talk with you?" The man nodded and snuffed out his cigarette before rising and following her out.

"What's on your mind?"

"How can you just sit there?" Mana demanded.

"What?" Minekura asked. "Do you mean Suzuhara?"

"What else?" Mana demanded. "I thought we were in agreement about Shinji!" Minekura eyed her flatly and lit a new cigarette.

"We are," he stated. "Shinji isn't running on all cylinders right now, but this is nothing."

"He's torturing a man!" Mana shrieked. "How is that nothing?"

"That man tortured a woman Shinji viewed as his own personal savior," Minekura commented. "Frankly, I'd be far more worried if he let that man walk." Mana stared at him uncomprehendingly. "This is Sergeant First Class Ikari. He's a very simple man, same as all of us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and all that rubbish. Only part of the Bible I like, that one."

"But. . ."

"If you think different, maybe you just didn't know him as well as you thought." Mana felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Touji screamed again and Minekura glanced at his watch. "This is going to go all night, I just know it." He turned away. "Where did Tak put the earplugs? I want to take a nap." Mana watched as he walked away. Crazy. They were all crazy and Shinji was feeding off it. These men, they were the reason Shinji was so far gone. Mana dug out her cell phone. There was only one person she knew that could help her now, only one person who could see how sick Shinji had begun.

(:ii:)

Asuka cursed as her phone began to ring again. She knew what had happened God damn it! She had practically ordered it! "Boss?"

"What?" Asuka snapped.

"Pick up the phone," Jenny stated.

"I told you, I'm not here!"

"You'll want to hear this one," Jenny replied. Asuka spat another curse and snatched up her handset.

"Hello?"

"Asuka?"

"Mana?"

"We need to talk," Mana replied. Asuka froze. No way. No way was this really happening. Nothing ever went this perfectly for her.

"Yes we do," she stated. "We need to talk about Shinji and about certain actions he has taken. Can we meet somewhere?"

"Yeah," Mana answered. "I think that's for the best. I passed a diner on the way into town."

"The twenty-four hour one?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah. I'll see you there in two hours."

"I'll be there." The phone went dead and Jenny appeared in the doorway to Asuka's office.

"How are we going to do this?" she asked. "Do you want to just grab her and use her as a hostage?"

"I don't even know how Shinji will respond to that," Asuka stated.

"What about torture his location out of her?" Jenny pressed.

"Section-2 is almost gone. They were loyal to Touji. Without him here they've gone in search of him and we have no way to contact any of them," Asuka explained. "We don't have any other military force. The only troops we have are my personal security detail and, even though they're all ex-Spec Ops too, I don't want to risk them against Shinji and his team."

"Then what's the plan?" Jenny asked.

"I'm thinking," Asuka growled. She had nothing. How could she trap a man whom she wasn't entirely convinced was a real human under that skin? "Have you been able to contact SEELE yet?"

"No."

"What about Ayanami?"

"She's not picking up either," Jenny stated.

"Where the hell is all of our backup?"

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Well, being Easter Bunny was fairly amusing. I got to traumatize a couple of kids, so I was happy. It was definitely fun to have a parent trying to say that the bunny was harmless when suddenly the bunny stands up and has a good foot on mommy without even counting the ears.

I'm a bit baked right now from a long and rather emotionally-exhausting day that had nothing to do with bunnies. I'll get more out next time. Till than!


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Eleven:

Shinji studied the blueprints of NERV. "What do you think?" Minekura yelled over the roar of the power washer in the background.

"This is going to be a bitch!" Shinji announced. The power washer cut off and Takahashi sat down beside them.

"God damn what a mess," he growled as he pulled off his goggles. "Why am I cleaning this shit up?"

"Because we told you to," Shinji replied. Takahashi scowled at them.

"Great," he grumbled. "How the hell did you empty that propane tank? He didn't look that burned."

"I got creative," Shinji replied with a shrug as he turned back to the map.

"What do you guys think of the Geo-Front?" the younger man asked.

"Trouble," Shinji answered.

"The 'we laugh at trouble' kind of trouble or the 'oh shit' kind of trouble?" the younger man asked.

"The second," Minekura stated. "How many of the old guys have you kept in touch with?"

"Enough," Takahashi replied. "And each of them has kept in contact with others. If need be, we can bring together a pretty decent team, given the right amount of time."

"How long?"

"Probably too long," Takahashi answered. "They're scattered all over the fucking place and I don't just mean Japan. You're the only guy I know who managed to get a nice happy civilian life Sergeant. Everybody else is either working for a PMC or doing something else."

"PMCs?" Shinji asked.

"It's where the money's at," Takahashi stated with a shrug.

"We used to do this out of duty and patriotism," Shinji commented as he turned back to the map. He just knew he wasn't going to like what was about to be said.

"It's the same shit only you get paid more and you can tell them to go fuck themselves when they try to get you killed," Takahashi explained.

"I seem to recall you doing that when you were in the military," Minekura commented offhandedly.

"Hence my current self employment," Takahashi returned with a grin. "I'll never forget the look on that General's face."

"I'll never forget that you said it in front of an international new crew and than bitched him out," Shinji added. "You probably ruined his career."

"You weren't complaining at the time," Takahashi shot back. "I seem to recall you falling to the ground, clutching your stomach because you were laughing so hard." Shinji chuckled at the memory. That had been beautiful and the man had been an idiot.

"When do you want to go?" Minekura asked.

"All our plans are still valid," Shinji stated. "I think we should hit them real soon."

"Reason?" Minekura pressed.

"Asuka knows just who she's fucking with now," Shinji replied. "If she'd got half a brain, she'll be scared and if she's scared, she's going to make our lives a lot more difficult."

"I'm all for making our lives easy," Takahashi commented.

"Agreed." Shinji glanced around and frowned. "Where the hell is Mana?"

"She bolted around the time you started using the cheese grater," Minekura stated. Shinji frowned as he considered that.

"That was pretty early on."

"Weak stomach," Takahashi guessed. Shinji shrugged. Mana never had been one for gore, not even in the movies.

"What about our way in?" Minekura asked.

"I was about to go see about that," Shinji stated.

(:ii:)

Asuka looked around the diner and spotted the woman she was looking for. "Good afternoon Mana."

"Afternoon," the green-eyed woman replied. Asuka sat down and glanced around for the waiter. She definitely needed a cup of coffee. With no waiter in earshot she resigned herself to the inevitable.

"We need to talk about Shinji."

"You encouraged him," Mana spat. "You sent him after Suzuhara knowing full well that he isn't stable."

"I didn't know what he was planning," Asuka protested. "Do you think I would have let him go, knowing that he would actually kill anyone in his way?" That was true enough. He had caused more trouble than it would be worth. Mana looked down and sipped her coffee, her righteous fury disappearing in a flash.

"What can we do?"

"We have to stop him," Asuka stated. Mana's eyes widened and Asuka knew what she would say. "I don't want to hurt him, much less kill him."

"He's so dangerous," Mana whispered. "How else could we do it?"

"I don't know yet." Asuka knew alright. She knew Shinji's kind. She had run into fanatics before, fortunately none with Shinji's skills. Death was the only way to stop those kinds of men. "It pains me to say it, but you know him better than anyone. I want you to come back to the Geo-Front and speak with one of our profilers. We need to see if there's any way to diffuse him. If we can do that, we won't need to hurt him." It was all a lie, but it was a way to acquire Mana with her full cooperation.

"I'll do whatever I can to help him."

"Thank you."

(:ii:)

Maya pushed open the door to her apartment and headed strait for the mini bar in the corner. It had been one of those days. Actually, this might be the worst day yet. She reached into the cabinet and pulled out a new bottle of whiskey. She poured herself a large glass and turned to go to her seat when she bumped into something large and very solid that had appeared to block her. Luckily Shinji caught the glass as she dropped it in fright. "Evening." Maya stumbled backwards and banged into her bar.

"You. . ."

"Me," Shinji stated. He took a drink from her glass. "Did you know that you don't have any bodyguards watching you right now?"

"Section-2 abandoned their posts to find Suzuhara," Maya stated. She swallowed thickly. "You killed him, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Shinji grinned. "Are you scared of me? You must have known how bad Suzuhara was."

"You killed Hikari too." Shinji's eyes flickered away for just a moment.

"That was unfortunate," he stated. "She tried to run. You won't do something so stupid, will you? I'd rather not repeat that scene again if at all possible."

"No," Maya squeaked. Shinji smiled and gestured for her to sit. Maya sat, more because he legs gave out from under her than any other reason.

"Good. I don't actually want to kill you," he stated. "I need access to the Geo-Front."

"I can provide that," Maya stated eagerly. She could feel something growing inside her. "I can get you anything you need." Shinji stared at her for a moment.

"Was that a come on or are you being serious?"

"Do you think I like this?" Maya wailed. Shinji studied her with cold, calculating eyes.

"I don't know. Do you?"

"No!"

"Why didn't you tell someone?" Shinji asked. "Not helping is the same as killing someone yourself, just less messy."

"Tell who?" Maya shrieked, her fear forgotten as she shot to her feet. "Asuka owns everyone in Tokyo-3!"

"Than why didn't you go outside Tokyo-3?" Shinji pressed. Maya stared at him for a long moment before dropping to a knee. She undid the straps on her right pump and slipped it off.

"Look!" Shinji did. Maya didn't have to, to know that her two smallest toes were missing. "I woke up one morning with my toes missing. Asuka called me and told me to just imagine what else could disappear if I tried to get help." Shinji stared at her in silence. "Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up missing body parts?"

"No," he stated. He held up his left hand. Maya stared at the shortened fingers in shock. She had never even noticed. "I was conscious the entire time." He handed her back her drink and she finished it before moving to refill it.

"Let me help you, please."

"Alright," Shinji replied. "Bring only what you need to get into the Geo-Front. Leave the rest." Maya nodded her understanding. "Know this, fuck with me once and I'll kill you, understand?"

"I understand."

(:ii:)

Minekura glanced up as the door to the warehouse opened. "Hey Ikari."

"Sir," the man returned. Minekura felt an eyebrow rise at the young-looking brunette nearly hiding behind Shinji. He opened his mouth to ask, but Shinji cut him off. "Our way in."

"Oh," Minekura replied simply. "I'm Minekura," he added politely. No point in giving away too much information.

"Maya Ibuki," the brunette returned somewhat nervously.

"We had a rather interesting talk on the way over," Shinji stated. "We need to move very soon, probably before back up could possibly arrive." Minekura felt his eyes widen of their own accord.

"What?"

"You heard me," Shinji replied calmly. Minekura's stomach dropped. This was not good. No siree.

"You're rushing this. We aren't ready."

"You can never be ready enough," Shinji returned. He glanced back at Maya. "Tell him."

"Asuka has a lot more than just Section-2 at her disposal," the brunette stated. "If need be, she can call in armies, both national and private."

"How can she do that?" Minekura demanded. He had never heard of a person with so much power. If he had, he would have gone after them long ago on general principle.

"The people who own NERV own the world," Maya answered flatly. Minekura stared at her. She couldn't be right.

"No one owns the world," he stated after a moment.

"No entirely, but SEELE is coming closer all the time." Shinji let that sink in.

"She also says that Section-2 has scattered to the winds looking for Suzuhara at the moment," he said finally. "We move now and rush it, or wait and go up against the world." Minekura shrank in his seat.

"Them's the breaks," he murmured. "I'll brief Tak when he gets back." Shinji nodded his thanks and frowned as he reached into his pocket. He fished out his cell phone and stared at its screen.

"I need to take this."

(:ii:)

Shinji stepped out into the coming night and flipped his phone open. He had immediately recognized the number as Mana's. "Where the hell are you?"

"Where I've been for a long time," a smooth voice returned. Shinji knew that voice well.

"Where's Mana?" he asked, his voice straining to sound calm.

"I have her," Asuka replied. "She's fine Shinji and I don't plan on hurting her."

"Taking hostages now? So you're finally dropping the nice girl act?" Shinji asked.

"It's not an act," Asuka shot back. "I am a nice girl. I want the best for the world and sadly, the best has to come over the bodies of a few insignificant. . ."

"Misato was not insignificant!" Shinji roared. "You ungrateful bitch! She took you in when you had no one on that side of the fucking planet!"

"She did," Asuka stated agreeably, "but she didn't care. No, she cared for you, but never me. I was just part of the job. Now let's be reasonable. I want to help mankind."

"I doubt very much that mankind wants your help," Shinji stated.

"Mankind may not want it, but it needs my help," Asuka countered. "Come on, Shinji. We both know that humans are petty, jealous, stupid, and short sighted. They know what's good for them yet all they want to do is be able to spend money, strut around and fuck each other."

"That's their choice and it's their right to make it."

"God damn it Shinji!" He could hear the aggravation in her voice. "Stop this! Don't be a damned fool. I am powerful. You're nothing. You can't win!" He could hear her take a deep breath before beginning again, much calmer this time. "You're going to wind up dead, just like Misato." Shinji could feel his lips stretching into a wide grin. His left hand was clenching and unclenching eagerly.

"I don't care if I live," he hissed. Asuka fell silent quickly. "My life doesn't matter much at all. I'm a soldier and we're expected to die. It doesn't bother me in the least."

"Why fight a loosing battle?" Asuka pressed.

"I won't loose," Shinji stated. "Death doesn't mean I loose. If I finish my goals and live, I win. If I finish my goals and die, I win. I will finish my goals and alive or dead I will win. My goal is your death and there is nothing you can do to stop me." He spun and pitched his phone at the wall, shattering it into a hundred pieces.

(:ii:)

"That was unusually expressive for you." Takahashi watched as his former team leader turned to stare at him. "Telemarketers? Yeah, they get that reaction out of me too." Takahashi didn't dare admit that the grin twisting the older man's features was terrifying. "We going?"

"You know it." Shinji took a deep breath and he face returned to its normal countenance.

"I got a hold of a couple of the guys," Takahashi stated. "They'll be here by the end of the week."

"Too late," Shinji replied. "We leave tomorrow night."

"Huh? When did we agree to this?"

"We agreed on nothing. I decided." Takahashi scowled.

"All due respect Sergeant, we aren't military any more."

"You can do what I say or I can pound you." Takahashi wasn't sure if Shinji was joking or not. He also wasn't sure if he could take the older man if it turned out he wasn't joking.

"Can I go get Minekura before I decide?"

"You think you can both take me?" Shinji asked as he lit a cigarette. Takahashi considered that.

"Probably not. I just want someone to take a part of the pain." Shinji grinned and Takahashi was relieved to see that it was his normal exasperated yet jovial smirk. "I'll get a hold of Smith and Ahmed."

"Good. We're going to need them to cove the exits incase Sohryu makes a run for it."

"So this is a no joke search and destroy, eh?"

"Absolutely."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. I just saw the Futurama move and I must say that I loved it. That twist at the end was incredible. It put the Signs guy to shame. In other news I've started work rewriting an old favorite for a rerelease at an undisclosed time.


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Twelve

Maya watched silently as Shinji and his small team readied their equipment. She glanced at the dry erase board on one wall and frowned. They had all made it sound so simple and routine. Years of experience had taught her that nothing in the Geo-Front was every simple or routine. "Can you really do this?"

"Yes," Shinji answered as he continued loading bullets into his machinegun's twin drum magazine. He glanced around at the other men. "Surprise and superior firepower can make up for numbers, especially in close, confused situations."

"Even without Section-2, Asuka still has her personal security detail," Maya stated.

"Well, at least they won't be more heavily armed than we will be," Shinji replied with a chuckle. "I'd hate to see someone more heavily armed than us."

"Probably be in a tank," Takahashi replied.

"But what if Asuka goes to general quarters?" Maya pressed. "Everybody would be armed with at least a pistol."

"A bunch of lab rats who probably have never held a gun, let alone pointed one at someone, against us," Minekura stated. "I'd hate to sound arrogant, but it's no contest."

"Especially when we kill the lights," Shinji added. He slipped the fully loaded magazine into one of the pouches on his vest and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Of course, everything will be a lot worse if you can't get us in like you say you can."

"I can get you in," Maya replied. It would be easy, especially with Section-2 out of the way. Most of the security systems would have been switched to their automatic settings and those systems were, at best, primitive. "What about Mana?" Shinji's hand convulsed and crushed the pack of cigarettes in his hand. He scowled and extracted one rather crooked cigarette.

"What happens, happens," he replied as he lit it. "Don't bother with things that are out of your control, you'll only drive yourself insane."

"But Mana isn't out of your control," Maya protested. Shinji eyed her and took a long drag on his cigarette.

"She's a human being," he stated. "They're always out of control, that's part of the beauty and bitch of human nature."

(:ii:)

"Well?" Asuka asked as Gemüt's head psychologist stepped into her office.

"Pretty much what we thought," Doctor Fletcher stated. "There's no way in hell we're going to shut him down without bloodshed."

"What does Mana think?" Asuka asked curiously.

"She truly believes that Ikari is delusional," Fletcher replied. "In my opinion, she's always been terrified that he would regress and now that it appears he might have, she's too blinded by her beliefs to see it any other way. If you told her flat out that he was right, I don't think she'd believe you. Someone here is delusional, but it's not Ikari."

"Too bad," Asuka replied. She really felt for the woman. "It's a shame she couldn't trust him more." Fletcher shrugged.

"Fear," he stated simply. "His regression was a possibility, albeit not the most likely one, but because of how bad it is, it's probably been praying on her mind since she began to entertain feelings for him." Asuka sighed.

"What about Suzuhara and Ibuki?"

"No sign of either," Fletcher stated.

"Issue general quarters," Asuka ordered.

"Shouldn't we send the staff home?" Fletcher asked. "Most of them have never even held a weapon. What good can possibly come of having them here?"

"They'll absorb ammo," Asuka replied flatly. "I want as many possible bodies between me and him as possible."

"Very well," Fletcher said simply. "Maybe you should consider fleeing."

"There were snipers in the team Shinji sent to deal with Suzuhara," Asuka countered.

"What does that. . .oh. There's no possible way they can have every exit staked out."

"Shinji has an enormous pool to draw highly trained personnel from," Asuka explained. "He brought those snipers and the rest of that team in, who says there aren't more?"

(:ii:)

Shinji finished tying his boots and set about wrapping duct tape around the laces and the bottoms of his trousers to keep his boots tied and his trousers bloused. "I look like a reject from a sci-fi movie," he muttered.

"Not my fault Russian urban cammo is so overused," Takahashi replied. "It's also really durable. . .and cheap."

"Cheapskate," Shinji commented as he buckled his kneepads and pulled on the black Kevlar sleeves that covered his forearms from wrist to elbow.

"No arguments," Takahashi replied. "You sleep at all?"

"A little," Shinji lied. He picked up his heavy tactical vest and slipped it on over his head before tightened it under his arms. The added deltoid extensions felt bulky and restrictive, as did the drop-leg platforms that wrapped almost completely around his thighs as well as held several pieces of kit, but it wasn't as bad as he remembered. "Is this stuff lighter or am I crazy?" He noticed absently how Minekura tensed and decided that, that was probably a bad choice of words.

"Liquid smart material plates instead of solid ones," Takahashi replied proudly. "They're a stopgap until full smart material body armor systems aredeveloped. The Americans are just beginning to field them. You have no idea how hard they are to get." Shinji snorted in amusement and pulled on the heavy pack containing most of his demo charges before buckling its waist and sternum straps. He picked up Misato's old USP and checked it carefully before holstering it on his right thigh. "You sure you want that thing? I have better pistols."

"This has sentimental value," Shinji replied. He also checked the snaps holding the massive cutlass-bladed knife to his thigh, just ahead of the pistol. Experience had long ago taught him that when push came to shove and bullets ran out, the man with the bigger knife and more desire to live tended to win. Shinji stepped out of the prep room and out where Maya was waiting for them.

"Wow," she comment softly. "You really are attacking."

"Did that just hit you?" Shinji asked as he pulled on his gloves and balaclava.

"Yes it did," Maya stated. Shinji snorted and set about loading his machinegun. He paused as he noticed that his hands were steady as a rock and he hadn't had a cigarette and damn near two hours. He didn't even feel any desire for one either. Instead his fingers itched to wrap around his machinegun's pistol grip.

"I'm back."

"What was that?" Maya asked.

"Nothing," Shinji replied as his fingers gratefully slipped around the weapon's familiar grips and he tugged back the charging handle.

(:ii:)

Maya carefully leaned out the window of the van she was driving and pushed her I.D. card into the reader. "Is this all?" Shinji asked.

"Normally there'd be a Section-2 team to search the van, but you already took care of that," Maya replied as she retrieved her card and drove the van onto the vehicle transport.

"Turns out killing Suzuhara was a pretty damn good idea," Minekura commented. Shinji nodded and leaned back in his chair. He felt incredibly calm and content, despite the fact that he was heading off towards certain death and destruction. Despite that, there was one little think annoying him rather badly.

"Would you cut that shit out?" he demanded, turning in his seat to glare at Takahashi.

"Sorry," the younger man replied sheepishly as stopped kicking the back of Shinji's seat. "I'm just kind of twitchy at the moment."

"I noticed," Shinji growled. Takahashi just grinned and scratched the back of his head. Minekura ignored them and kept picking at his nails with a small pocket knife.

"I need a drink," he stated suddenly.

"Do it on your own time," Shinji ordered. It took him about thirty seconds before he remembered to add a sir to the end of that statement. Suddenly light filled the rather dark cabin of the van and Shinji looked out the window to see the Geo-Front.

Wow," Takahashi whispered. "That is pretty cool."

"Yeah," Minekura agreed. Shinji watched it silently, too lost in memories of the first time he had seen it. . .and the person who had been with him at the time. He closed his eyes and relished the unexpected memories. He felt the transport grind to a halt and Maya drive out into the underground parking lot. He glanced down at the watch pinned to the straps on his vest and grinned. Everything was on time, even a little ahead of schedule. That was a good sign. Maya pulled into a parking space and turned the van off.

"Now what?"

"Now we secure you," Shinji stated, pulling a pair of plastic safety-cuffs out of his pocket.

"You didn't mention that!" Maya protested.

"Didn't want to freak you out," Shinji explained.

(:ii:)

Ahmed watched the time tick away on his watch and looked down at the detonator in his hand. Once triggered, explosives would take out all five of the power substations that made sure the Geo-Front would never gave to use its emergency generators.

It would also take out five different power grids and plunge most of Tokyo-3 into havoc, but that was just an added bonus. "You all set over there Smith?"

"Perfect," Smith replied curtly. Ahmed grinned. The man didn't sound happy, probably still pissed that he had lost the rock-paper-scissors game to determine who got the flip the switch.

"Want me to do a little countdown or something?"

"I want you to shut your mouth and push the button when the clock tells you to!" Smith snapped. Ahmed had to laugh at that, though he decided not to push his radio's push to talk button. For some reason, Smith could hold a grudge like no other man Ahmed had ever known. His watch pulsed twice silently and Ahmed hit the button.

"Boom, baby." The lights flickered once before going out altogether and somewhere down below the building Ahmed was perched on, two cars collided. A few seconds later shrieking voices carried up to him and Ahmed sighed in contentment. There was nothing quite like ruining someone else's day to make you feel all warm and tingly. "I love my job."

"Hey Ahmed?"

"Yeah?"

"Think this job is going to be over before the looting stops?" Smith asked.

"Maybe," Ahmed replied. "Thinking of going shopping?"

"What with all the great five-finger discounts, who could resist?"

(:ii:)

Shinji pulled on his helmet and buckled his chinstrap as the time ticked closer. "Everybody ready?"

"We're good," Minekura replied. Shinji nodded and checked his weapon again, making sure that the magazine was seated correctly, tugging at the collapsible stock to make sure it was locked in position, checking to make sure that the magnified clipped in front of his weapon's holographic scope was secured out of the way. He had done it a hundred times out of habit, but what was one more? Finally he pushed the button that activated the small thermal camera mounted to his weapon. The tiny screen over his left eye flickered to life showing an eerie world of white and black. He nodded in approval and flipped the screen up.

"Time," Takahashi reported. The lights flickered and Shinji clicked one of the buttons on his watch.

"Let's go." Shinji flipped down his night vision goggles, the red emergency lighting giving them enough ambient light to make the parking lot look like high noon. He made his way to the elevator and punched the call button.

"This will take us to the emergency generators?" Minekura asked.

"Yup," Shinji answered. The doors opened and Shinji swept the car with his machinegun's muzzle before stepping inside.

"Seems kind of easy," Minekura stated.

"This isn't a military base." Shinji pushed Maya's I.D. card into an apparently random seam in the panel and slid it down before pushing the buttons for the lowest level and the highest at the same time. The doors slid shut and the elevator began descending rapidly.

"These generators are the last dominoes?" Takahashi asked as he checked his weapon.

"Yep," Shinji replied. "Power from five different energy grids and these generators is all they've got." The light showing what floor the elevator was on continued to flash rapidly.

"What does this thing run on?"

"Back up generators," Shinji replied. "They start sending power to certain necessary systems first and then to the rest."

"We kill them and it even kills the emergency lighting?" Takahashi pressed. Shinji nodded. "Score." The elevator slowed and finally ground to a stop after six minutes of rapid descent. Takahashi shouldered his short assault rifle and they moved out in a single stack with Takahashi on point and Shinji bringing up the rear. Takahashi's rifle snapped off two bursts, the suppressor making the gunshots simply unpleasant instead of outright painful in the close quarters.

They moved quickly down the hallway, past the two bodies, to the door leading to the generator room. Takahashi flashed a series of hand signals and Shinji and Minekura stacked up against the wall beside the door. Takahashi kneeled and pressed a tiny optic cable under the door. He stared at the screen and nodded to Minekura and Shinji before pulling the cable out.

Shinji dropped his heavy pack and pulled out an old American concussion grenade. He resumed his position and absently pushed the monocle covering his right eye up so he could use his weapon's reflex sight while Takahashi stood ready with his rifle. Shinji nodded and the shotgun attached to the underside of Takahashi's rifle barked loudly, blowing out the door's lock. He pivoted and slammed his heel into the door, knocking it wide open. Shinji lobbed the grenade into the room and ducked back behind Minekura.

The grenade's blast was painful, but not nearly as painful for them as it was for the men in the generator room. Shinji pushed his knee into Minekura's leg and they both sped into the room. They had studied its layout and rehearsed a dozen times in the warehouse, so the only surprises were the people inside. Those who hadn't been killed by the blast were disoriented enough that they couldn't even react to the sudden intruders. Shinji fired six double taps on his way to his position.

"Left side clear!" Minekura snapped.

"Right side clear," Shinji replied.

"All clear," Takahashi stated as he stepped into the room with Shinji's pack. Shinji grabbed it and quickly pulled out several thermite grenades.

"Looks like maintenance guys," Minekura commented.

"Yup," Shinji agreed as he pried the turbine cover off one of the six generators. He primed the grenade and dropped it in. It ignited with a pop and Shinji was forced back a step by the sudden burst of heat and light.

"Can I try one?" Takahashi asked.

"Go for it." Shinji dumped the grenades into the younger man's arms and moved back to his pack. He reached into another pouch strapped to it and pulled out several mines.

"What are those?" Minekura asked.

"Minimores," Shinji replied.

"Come again?"

"Little claymores," Shinji stated. "Cute, aren't they? I'm going to make sure no even wants to step foot in here to fix these things for a good long time."

"Sounds like a plan."

"These things are great!" Takahashi exclaimed as he dropped the last grenade.

"I just remembered the last time I gave him grenades," Shinji commented.

"Your fingers?" Minekura asked. Shinji nodded. "Look on the bright side. If he fucks up this time, your wounds will cauterize themselves."

"I guess."

(:ii:)

"What the hell is going on?" Asuka demanded.

"We've lost all external power," Jenny stated.

"A black out?" Mana asked.

"We draw power from five grids," Asuka stated. "We can run on any of them singularly. There is no way in hell that all five grids went down by accident. What about the generators?"

"The generators will bring on emergency power ten minutes after the loss of the grids," Jenny reported. "There is a team of mechanics keeping them in shape twenty-four/seven." Asuka looked down at her watch. "It's been seven minutes."

"What happens if the lights don't go back on in three minutes?" Mana asked.

"We know that we're under attack," Asuka answered simply. She turned back to Jenny. "Have you heard anything from SEELE?"

"Nothing."

"This isn't good." Asuka reached into her desk drawer and pulled out an ancient H&K 4.6mm pistol. "I suggest you get ready."

"I'm always ready," Jenny replied as cheerfully as ever.

(:ii:)

Shinji finished with his last minimore and carefully closed the door. "Shit. I forgot my rifle." He spun and found himself glaring at Takahashi. "Gottcha."

"Not funny," Shinji hissed. "Time to split up."

"Watch your backs," Minekura added in a whisper.

"Just curious," Takahashi began, "what would happen if we needed to go back into that room?"

"We'd throw you in first," Shinji replied. Takahashi's shoulders slumped.

"I knew you were going to say that."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. I have got too many characters running around here. I just know that I mixed up Maya and Mana as well as Shinji and Smith in there somewhere. Looks like I need to start eliminating people again. Am I the only author willing to kill characters for convenience? Probably.

Now for another Mister Cynical Bitch Fest™ . Violence in fanfiction. It's ridiculous and I mean sad ridiculous, not good ridiculous. Now, in my mind, there are two types of violence. They are realistic and stylistic. I must admit that I much prefer stylistic, an example of which would be the movie Shoot 'em Up. Stylistic violence is unrealistic and fun, which is why I like it. I've used it myself in Lycanthrope and Competition Can Be Murder. The other violence, realistic violence, is not fun and it's really not that showy, but it serves a purpose.

The problem for me is that a lot of authors just suck at violence, yet they use it anyway. This can also be said about emotion in general with them. How they describe it is utterly stupid and not even entertaining (also, much like they do with emotion). And don't even get me started on the emo authors over in Harry Potter and Naruto who have probably only every seen blood when they give themselves paper cuts. God damn those little bastards. Cutting just proves you're too much of a failure to even commit suicide right. Remember kids, it's up the street not across the lane. What am I talking about? Suicide for them is just a cry for attention.

I swear of God, if by some unfortunate circumstance I wind up with a kid and they pull that shit, I'm going to give them attention all right, the kind of attention that comes from the back side of my ring hand! That's right, if I have kids, I'm going to raise them the same way my parents raised me, the good-old-fashioned Irish Catholic method of parenting. That's what's wrong with the youth today, their parents don't smack them. You should never have to reason with kids. Reasoning shows them that they might be right. Smacking them worked for generations of kids, so I don't know what these damn therapists are harping on about.

Damn. I did it again. Sorry. Whiny little kids always piss me off, especially when they have nothing the whine about.


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own anything.

Corruption

-Chapter Thirteen

Shinji sat back on his haunches and eyed the thermite grenades he had placed at intervals around the armory. Everything seemed to be in order. He hooked the wire running from the blasting caps he had installed in the grenades to the detonator in his hand and made his way back out into the hallway. With a simple button push, every weapon that hadn't already been issued to Gemüt's personnel was rendered useless.

Shinji dropped the detonator and brought his machinegun back up. He had personally wanted to run headlong for Asuka, but cooler heads had prevailed and other targets had been brought up. As Shinji worked, Minekura and Takahashi were sweeping different parts of the Geo-Front in search of Asuka's fabled super bodyguards. Maya had mentioned that many of them had been deployed around the Geo-Front to handle some of Section-2's old duties.

"Is that who you are my friend?" Shinji whispered as he toed one of the men he had shot in front of the armor. The brief firefight had left two men dead and Shinji without feeling in his left fingers. A solid hit on his left deltoid extension had left his arm in pins and needles for several minutes. These guys had definitely not been the terrified lab rats that occasionally took potshots at him before he mowed them down.

A weapon cracked and Shinji grunted as something slammed into his spine. He pivoted and put a double-tap into the chest of a wild-eyed young woman. She went down and Shinji continued on his way. Now he couldn't even feel his toes.

(:ii:)

"He's really attacking, isn't he?" Mana asked.

"It looks that way," Asuka replied as the ground under them bucked suddenly.

"What's he doing?" Mana asked.

"He's taking out high-value target," Jenny reported. Her head cocked to the side as she listened to the radio earpiece she wore. "There's more than one enemy combatant. They're engaging our personnel all over the place. The armory has been decimated and a large explosive device was set off on board the car transport."

"He's getting rid our ability to fight back and to escape," Asuka commented. "How many of my guard are still alive?"

"I broke them down into four man teams," Jenny replied. "Five teams have reported contact and none of them have made a follow up report yet."

"Twenty men?" Asuka asked in shock. "How many security guys do I have?"

"I took the initiative to bring in some extra help," Jenny replied. Asuka stared at the younger woman. The blond grinned brightly in the light cast by the small electric lantern she had scrounged up. "You didn't hire me for my boobs, Boss! At least, I don't think you did."

"You really need to learn to stop talking sooner," Asuka stated.

"Then I wouldn't be me!" Jenny replied cheerfully. She turned and almost skipped out of the office. Mana glanced back at Asuka and watched the redhead pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"She's actually some kind of combatant?"

"Supposedly," Asuka replied. "I wasn't actually looking for a combatant, I just wanted a nice, quiet secretary who could forge my signature so I could dump all my work on them. She popped up and added that she was some kind of veteran. I can't even remember what she said."

(:ii:)

Shinji pushed the muzzle of his weapon around the corner of where the two hallways met in an X-shape and frowned as a dozen man-shaped heat signatures appeared on his screen. He reversed the gun and found that the hallway in the other direction was empty. He withdrew his weapon before it could be spotted and pulled one of the heavy, round fragmentation grenades he carried. He had been constantly re-supplying the pouches on his vest with equipment from his pack and he was starting to run dry.

Shinji prepped the grenade and looked down the other hallway again to make sure it was still empty before he lobbed it around the corner without exposing himself. There were a few surprised exclamations and then the grenade blew. He pivoted around the corner and sent bursts into those who were still standing. They dropped and something slammed into Shinji's right arm. His deltoid extension caught the bullet, but the energy spun him around and slammed his back into the wall he had been hiding behind.

Shinji landed flat on his ass with his legs sprawled out in front of him and his machinegun across his lap. Without even thinking he laid on the trigger and sent a hail of 6.5mm lead flying down the hallway. He managed to suppress the new enemy long enough to drag himself into the hallway he had just cleared to get cover. It had been a trap with the men Shinji had killed as bait.

Only Asuka's personal guards would be big enough dicks to sacrifice other people, or so he decided. Shinji stuck his weapon out into the hallway and used its cameras to target a few of the soldiers. He loosened a burst to keep them in place and grabbed another grenade. He ducked back down and prepped his grenade. He made to throw it, but the moment his arm cleared his cover, a round slammed into his arm, but this time from behind. The grenade tumbled from his number fingers and landed barely around the corner.

"Oh shit." Shinji spun and dropped flat. The corner saved him from shrapnel, but the concussive blast made his ears explode in pain. Shinji pushed himself up quickly and emptied his machinegun down the opposite hallway. It was an perfect pincher he decided as he dropped his machinegun's dual drum and dragged another from the pouch on his chest. It was his last one.

"Friendly!" He jerked upright as he reloaded and saw another soldier running towards him. Only the unique shape and placement of the infrared patches on his uniform stayed Shinji's hand.

"Your left!" Shinji snapped as he pivoted to his own left. Minekura slammed to a halt at the opposite corner and pivoted around it to fire on the men behind Shinji.

"Which way to the bitch?" the other man demanded. He sounded extremely muffled. Now that Shinji noticed, everything did. Had he blown his eardrums again?

"My way," Shinji replied. He would have to get through the first team of men to get to Asuka.

'Is there a way around?"

"Nope." Shinji grabbed another grenade and popped its safeties. "Frag out!" He let the spoon flip away and ticked off a few seconds before lobbing the grenade. It blew and someone screamed. "You seen Tak?"

"No!" Shinji's radio crackled.

"Anyone hear me?"

"Copy," Shinji snapped after squeezing his radio's switch. "Where the hell are you?"

"Somewhere," Takahashi replied. "I hear a shit load of gunfire. That you guys?"

"That's us," Shinji replied. "Get here now."

"On my way." A dark shape popped out of a doorway down Minekura's side of the hallway and Shinji saw the familiar markings. "Friendly!" Takahashi slammed down next to Minekura. "What's the plan?"

"Cover me!"

(:ii:)

Takahashi ducked down as he recognized the two grenades Shinji had pulled. He tossed the flash bang to Takahashi and pulled on a heavy pair of earmuffs. "On three, you throw that way!" he bellowed, jerking his thumb in the direction Minekura had been firing.

"What about you?" Takahashi demanded.

"I go that way!" Shinji answered. He hung the grenade by its spoon on the front of his vest and shrugged off his pack.

"You mean, 'you throw that way,' right?" Takahashi demanded.

"One!" Takahashi quickly readied his grenade. "Two! Three!" Takahashi pitched his grenade and ducked down. To his shock, Shinji pitched his grenade, waited a second, and then followed after it. Both grenades lit and Takahashi's ears rang.

"Fire your fucking weapon!" He went high and began firing his rifle at vague thermal flashes with Minekura kneeling below him.

"You know how you were telling me that he's gone crazy?" Takahashi asked as he changed a look back and saw Shinji already at the end of the hallway and turning left. "I'm believing it now."

"Actually, that's not the stuff that worries me," Minekura replied. "You served with him, he pulls that shit normally."

"Then what kind of crazy are we talking about?" Takahashi asked. His weapon went dry. "Reloading!"

"Got it!" Minekura picked up the pace on his shots. "I don't know any more. Fuck it. We're all crazy. Agree?"

"Sounds about right to me."

(:ii:)

Shinji dropped his machinegun and scowled. Clearing out the first team after the flash bang had gone off had eaten up his ammo. Room clearing with a machinegun tended to be much of a spray and pray operation. He carefully drew Misato's USP and took in his surroundings. There had been only one chokepoint to Asuka's office and he had just gotten past it. Was there anyone else?

Shinji froze, one foot barely touching the ground. Someone was there. His ears were still ringing painfully, but he could tell. His hair was so bristled that he was sure it was lifting his helmet. He shifted his weight more evenly and was already turning when somebody leapt out of one of his blind spots. His fist collided with the person and sent them stumbling away with the USP caught in their clothes. He or she landed with a pained, feminine grunt and rolled to her feet. She lit a flare and Shinji ripped his goggles, and by extension his helmet, off to avoid being blinded. The whole hallway seemed to flicker and shimmer in the flare's intensely bright white flame.

"Did you hear me?" Jenny asked with a confused look as she shifted her knife carefully in her hand.

"Nope." Shinji replied as he drew his own knife and pulled his mask down over his head so it hung around his neck. Jenny eyed the massive black blade and grinned brightly as she dropped the flare.

"Over compensating?" she drawled.

"You won't find out," Shinji returned. Jenny's grin widened and she began to circle. She moved easily and carefully. "Who the hell are you?"

"Nobody," Jenny replied. She giggled. "Nobody ever heard me coming before. You're good."

"Yeah I am."

"I'm better." Her empty hand shot out at Shinji's face. He took the blow and grabbed her knife hand by the wrist with his own free hand as she tried to stab him. He twisted her arm and head butted her. She staggered back in a daze and Shinji brought his knife up, the massive blade hitting her just under his sternum and going up into her chest cavity. The hilt caught on her skin and, transferring all the power from the blow to her rib cage, actually lifted her off her feet several inches. She was dead before her feet hit the ground again.

"I'm better," Shinji stated finally. He pulled his knife out and lowered her to the ground before retrieving his pistol from where it had fallen. There was light coming from up ahead, so Shinji left his goggles behind as the flare sputtered out.

(:ii:)

"How did it come to this?" Asuka wondered as she heard more gunfire from somewhere very close.

"I was just asking myself the same question," Mana replied. "Jenny hasn't come back yet." Asuka frowned and glanced at her watch. Jenny had been popping up regularly as if to check on them. She was over eight minutes late. Of all the bad habits Jenny had, being late wasn't one of them. Then she heard faint footsteps. Mana rose, but Asuka put a hand on her shoulder. The footsteps were spaced too far apart and were far too heavy.

"Stay down," Asuka hissed as she picked up her pistol, Shinji appeared suddenly out of the gloom with a pistol in his hand and found Asuka aiming at him.

"Guess I wasn't being as quiet as I thought," he commented. Asuka could see trails of blood coming out of his ears. Suddenly Mana was between them.

"Shinji stop!"

"Get out of the way," Shinji hissed.

"Let's be reasonable," Asuka began. "I'm trying to help mankind, Shinji."

"Touji told me all about your kind of help," Shinji replied. "That isn't the way to go."

"What do you want?" Asuka demanded angrily. "Do you want to sit on your hands as the world destroys itself? You're a soldier, Shinji. You've seen the state of things. Mankind will destroy itself."

"So you'll do it first?" Shinji asked.

"I'm not destroying mankind," Asuka stated. "I'm going to force it to put its differences aside." Mana slowly turned to stare at her. "It's the only way."

"A little faith wouldn't kill you," Shinji stated.

"Says the professional killer," Asuka replied. 

"Even killers can believe, sometimes more than any other." Mana was still blocking her way. No way around it. Asuka pulled the trigger. Mana's eyes widened in shock as the little bullet tore through her and went on into Shinji. His leg was knocked out from under him and he went down with a grunt. Asuka leaned forward trying to get a clear shot and found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. 'Shinji.' The weapon cracked impossibly loud and the strobe washed her vision white.

(:ii:)

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Shinji grabbed his leg and stared at the blood coursing from the tiny hole in his upper thigh, almost his groin. That was a lot of blood and it was way too high to use a tourniquet. As he watched, more blood spurted out. Spurting blood was definitely a bad thing. "Oh, not good."

"Shinji?" Shinji managed to drag himself over to Mana and smiled down at her.

"Hey."

"I'm so sorry, Shinji."

"You should be," Shinji replied. "Damn doctors, always thinking they're right." He tugged her blouse aside and stared at the tiny hole. 'No.'

"How's it look?"

"Like you've been shot," Shinji replied. "You'll be fine." Mana coughed and Shinji saw blood on her lips. 'No, no, no, no. Oh God please, no.'

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Shinji replied.

"You were right all along," Mana stated. She turned her head to the side and coughed; more blood.

"Of course I was," Shinji stated. "I'm always right, eventually." Mana smiled weakly.

"I feel cold."

"Just shock," Shinji replied. Her fingers were starting to shake. "You'll be fine." She had wondered once if he lied badly on purpose to make her think he was a bad liar.

"We are taking a long vacation after this," Mana stated. "What do you think about a honeymoon in Okinawa?"

"Honeymoon?" Shinji asked.

"We're getting married," Mana stated flatly.

"News to me," Shinji commented.

"I just decided," Mana replied. "Now, I don't want your entire side of the family to be a bunch of spec ops guys."

"But, they're the only family I got," Shinji protested with a laugh. Mana laughed too.

"Not for long," she managed to reach up and grab him by the front of his vest. She pulled him down and kissed him. He held her as she began convulsing and then was gone. Shinji sat back on his haunches. He suddenly realized just how cold he felt.

"Wait up would you? Always jumping into things." His vision was going dark around the edges. He knew the signs, had been there a few times before. He had always managed to come back those times. Didn't look like the case this time and maybe that's how he wanted it.

Suddenly small, gentle hands grabbed him under his arms and picked him up with incredible strength. His vision was gone now, but he could absently feel himself being lowered into a soft seat. He was beginning to feel warm.

Sensation slammed into him so suddenly it was painful. One moment he was at the edge again, ready to finally go over, and the next he was bolting upright and gasping in shock. "Remain still." He looked down at the mop of blue hair belonging to the woman kneeling at his feet.

"Ayanami?"

"Remain still," she repeated. Was her hand glowing? Shinji watched in shock as she pulled her hand away from his thigh. No more blood spurted out and he felt strange warmth at its absence.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded.

"Regeneration," Rei answered. "Perhaps you remember that old angelic trick." Shinji stared at her.

"So that's why your jaw isn't wired," he growled. His eyes shot wide open. "Help Mana!"

"She is already gone," Rei replied. "I cannot raise the dead." Shinji slumped back into his seat.

"Why?"

"I told you already," Rei began, "I missed you. I don't want you to leave again." Shinji leaned back in his chair. He hadn't felt this alive in a long time. It was an odd counter point to the fact that he wasn't sure he wanted to be alive. "They wish to meet with you."

"Who?" Shinji rasped.

"SEELE," Rei replied. "My masters and, supposedly, hers as well," she added as she gestured to Asuka's body. "You were her test Shinji." Rei moved to the desk Shinji was sitting behind and picked up the phone. She punched a few numbers and put the handset down. The lights dimmed suddenly and several tall monoliths appeared.

"Congratulations," a withered voice boomed. "You have proven to be the best candidate as predicted."

"What do you mean?" Shinji demanded.

"There were questions as to Commander Sohryu's loyalty," the voice stated. "We saw you as the ultimate test. We must admit that we were surprised when she did not call in reinforcements. She made a fatal mistake in underestimating you."

"What do you want from me?" Shinji demanded.

"Isn't it obvious Mister Ikari?" the voice asked. "We want you to take her place. You are obviously her superior in both ability and character. There will be money and power."

"I don't need either," Shinji hissed.

"All the more reason we desire you as her replacement," the voice replied. "What do you say, Mister Ikari? Will you work for us?" Shinji looked at where Mana's body lay, even though he couldn't see it in the darkness. To bring everyone together, to bring her back. What would he give to bring her back?

"I'll do it," Shinji replied quietly.

"Excellent Commander Ikari," the voice purred. "Your commission is effective immediately." The monoliths disappeared and the lights turned back on.

"What would you have me to do, Commander?" Rei asked.

"Stop all the fighting," Shinji ordered. "Also, on parking level four in a gray van you will find Sub-Commander Ibuki. Release her and bring her to me." Rei's lips turned upward slightly and she nodded.

"I understand Commander." She started for the door.

"Ayanami?" She paused.

"Yes Commander?"

"SEELE said that Asuka never tried to get reinforcements," Shinji stated. "I don't believe that in the slightest." Rei's lips quirked into a small smile again.

"I didn't want you to leave again." With that she was gone. Shinji shucked his heavy body armor slowly, feeling a dozen aches and pains flare suddenly all over his body. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk and his head on his interlocked knuckles.

For Mana, he would do anything. Now he would do this. He would destroy SEELE in her memory, for no better reason than he knew that she wouldn't want what they had in store for mankind. He wouldn't make the mistakes of his predecessors. SEELE wouldn't even have time to understand just how badly they had blundered until they were dead. With their money and their power, he would destroy them. After that, well, after that he could step back and just let humankind go on its way. As it should be.

That's what Mana would have wanted. Because, in the end, the dead were dead and the living just had to go on living until they could rejoin their dearly departed.

"It's all for you Mana."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. I've always found Gendo Ikari and interesting character. Most people see him as some kind of bizarre, insane monster. I always saw him as the most sane and human character in the show. I may say that love is just an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, but I'm stupid enough to believe that it is nothing. Gendo did everything he did for the woman he loved. Who can't understand that? 

In this story, the only thing keeping Shinji, who has arguably lost more than Gendo,from turning into his father in his acceptance. He accepts that Misato and Mana are dead and he'll just have to wait to be with them again. Heh, I bet I had to you going there. You all probably thought that Shinji was going to go along with SEELE.

So, there it is, my hardest attempt at drama to date and a little tragedy thrown in to boot. I consider this my first major, thought out drama. Legionnaire was kind of spur of the moment. Now that I have time to think about it, I do believe I'll rewrite it. Not all, just the end. That was just jumping in with both feet. I tried to go from action as my main goal to drama as my main goal. I think I drowned on that attempt. This was more keeping one foot on dry land and one in the water, though I did ease in at the end. 

I normally don't really feel this way, but I'm proud of this story. I like the beginning, middle, and end. I feel no need to change anything. Well, that's just how I feel. What do you guys think?

P.S. I finally managed to wire my PS3 to the internet. I haven't put down Call of Duty 4 in days, so if you run into a guy named Mister Cynical running around and doing banzia knife charges in free-for-all, yeah, that's me. I don't have a headset, so I can't respond, but feel free to yell 'Hey Mister C!'


End file.
